Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic
by Phalanx Dragon
Summary: It's Harry's 5th year. We've got a strenthening Dark Lord, Karate lessons with an eccentric teacher, and Past mysteries with no immediate answers. PG-13 for violence, language and mild child abuse. §Discontinued§
1. Prologue

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic ****

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic

Prologue

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On the planet of Maylan, in a canyon in the northern mountains, a large waterfall cascaded down the cliff wall into a clear blue pool. Drinking from that pool was a herd of Voor, an elk like mammal. The Voor were wary, for the scent of dragon was lingering in their nostrils. The leader of the herd stood on a boulder off to the side, where it could watch over its herd. The stags fourteen point antlers, deadly though still in velvet, scythed the air as it threw up its head, muzzle twitching, scenting the wind.

The Voor had reason to be afraid, for at that very moment, behind the waterfall in a large cave, sat a gigantic golden dragon. She sat watching the Voor, biding her time as the water and mist covers most of her scent. She was planning the attack, knowing she needed her strength for the long journey ahead. The dragon slowly stood up keeping both amber eyes on the stag standing on the boulder in front of the cave. Suddenly, the stag caught a flash of gold through the mist of the water, it threw back its head, and it's throat quivering as it emitted a long, low bellow.

The dragon let out a thundering roar and hurtled out of the cave and through the waterfall. She landed on the back of the lead Voor, cutting off its bellow and snapping its neck in one swift movement. By then the other Voor had come out of their stupor and were galloping in the other direction. The dragon, in a flash of gold, launched off the boulder and pumped her wings in rapid motion. She flew swiftly through the air, no longer caring if she made any sounds, following the herd. Catching sight of a straggler with a lame hoof, she flew faster. As she caught up with the straggler, she came down hard on its back, breaking it with a resounding crack.

The gold beast ate the Voor quickly, not wanting to dawdle any longer. Finishing with that Voor, she flew back to the stag at the pool and swiftly ate that one too. The dragon dipped her muzzle into the pool, washing the blood off it, then submerged her talons. With that done she dived back through the waterfall and into the large cave. She folded her leathery wings to her sides and walked to the back of the cave, which opened into a giant cavern. She stared mournfully at a nest, big enough to hold a fair sized house, made of large branches and fur from her kills. There, in the center of the nest, lay five eggs, each about the size of a small car.

The golden dragon swiveled her head to rest in between all of the eggs and sighed. She closed her eyes, but soon opened them again and lifted her head out of the nest. _Nothing can save them now. _The dragon thought to herself. She turned her back on the eggs and walked back to the mouth of the cave. She thrust her head out through the water and looked up into the sun, which was blistering hot, pulsing in the azure sky. _Soon, there will be nothing left to save. _

Suddenly, the dragon launched out of the cave, not wishing to stay any longer, and glided through the valley of the canyon before flying up toward the rim. She grabbed hold of the rim, her wings keeping her balanced as she looked back once more to the beautiful land below her, then just as suddenly, she pushed herself off the rim and hovered a moment before disappearing into mid-air.

Cold rushed over her body as she used magic to fly through space. Total blackness covered her, until she slowed down, the magic stopping her close to the planet called Earth. As she entered the atmosphere, the dragon looked down, gazing at the green and brown land, the rough mountains, the crystal blue oceans, the white arctic and Antarctic, and finally, at the metallic sheen of modern cities.

The dragon flew down, to a small island continent, somewhere in the ocean off the side. She flew quickly, not wanting to be seen and landed on a huge rock, then looked up into the sky. She grinned, pleased to see a normal sized sun shining down upon her. Suddenly, she sighed and muttered to herself. "Time to start a new life," she sighed and mentally, using magic, set a time for 15 years and 9 months. Until then, she would remember nothing, she sighed, then closed her eyes, concentrated, and disappeared.

9 months later, a baby was born.

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	2. The Cleaner

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic

Chapter 1- The Cleaner

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A/N-Ok now we get into Harry's world, but don't forget about the prologue! It's important. Well anyway, hope you like it and please review!

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Harry Potter sighed from where he lay prone on his bed in the darkness. One more sleepless night. He looked up at the ceiling, noticing for the first time a long crack running from above his window on one side of his room, to above his door on the opposite side. Probably got there during the summer before his second year when the Weasleys had pulled out his window with their father's flying car to save him from his Uncle, who had locked him up in the first place. He had lived with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and his cousin Dudley since he was one years old, when his parents, James and Lily Potter, were killed by the Evil Lord Voldemort. The same Voldemort who wanted to kill him at this very moment. He sighed and shook away the thought. His head rolled to the side so he could see Hedwig's empty cage. He sighed again and rolled his head over to the other side where the time 2:15 stared defiantly back at him. He winced at the late, or maybe early, time and looked back up at the ceiling. 

He let his mind wander, back to those first 10 years living with the Dursleys, to his first meeting with Hagrid when he had first found out that he was, in fact, a wizard, to his first year at Hogwarts, then to his second and third years, and finally that last horrifying year.

He squeezed his eyes tight, trying to shut out the images flashing before him. Clear as day, he could remember the shock of seeing his name fly out of the goblet at the beginning of the Triwizard Tournament. He could still feel the pain of Ron's reaction, the pride of getting past the dragon, the frustration of trying to figure out that stupid golden egg.

A silent tear started to roll down his cheek at the memory of Cedric and the maze, the third and final task in the tournament. He could remember Cedric's defiance at the end of that maze, the surprise when they both took hold of the cup and it teleported them to the cemetery, the horror of seeing Cedric fall dead at the end of Voldemort's minion, Wormtail's wand.

Why had he made Cedric take the cup with him? How could he have been so blind as to not see the trap?

Then again, he thought, how could I have seen it?

The rest of the night passed pretty quickly, aside from waking up a few times from nightmares, the night was all right.

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Harry woke up before the Dursleys that morning, he had gotten into a routine of waking up around 6:00, to make breakfast for himself and the Dursleys, then off to chores. This morning he trudged sleepily down the stairs and into the kitchen, he walked over to the fridge and opened the heavy door. Then he just stared into it, blinking a few times to make sure that he was seeing right.

There was nothing in it. It was totally empty. Harry shook his head and went around to all the cupboards, but again, there was nothing. Suddenly, from behind him, the stairs creaked. Harry closed the cupboard he was looking in and turned around to see Uncle Vernon walking into the kitchen. Harry stared at him; surprised he had gotten up so early.

"Er- Uncle Vernon?" he asked quietly. Uncle Vernon jumped, just noticing Harry.

"What?" He grumbled at Harry.

"Well, umm, did you notice that we have no food?" Harry questioned tentatively.

Uncle Vernon blinked as though confused, then growled. "Of course, boy! We are having cleaners coming by and we don't want the food to get bad from the fumes and things do we?"

Harry looked at him in a confused manner, as though he thought the man had gone crazy. He thought to himself: _Since when does cleaning cause fumes? _

Instead, he said, "Ok, so what do we eat?"

Uncle Vernon glared at him, "If you had gotten down here earlier, you would have eaten before we took out the food. As for now, you'll go up to your room and stay there until the cleaners leave! You can clean your own room!"

Harry, seeing Uncle Vernon's face flushing red, decided to leave and went up to his room. He shook his head, muttering about crazy relatives. From across the room, there came a small hooting noise, Harry looked up and smiles when he saw Hedwig sitting in her cage watching him. He strolled across the room and held out his arm for Hedwig to perch on. The white owl fluttered out of her cage and onto his arm. Harry flattened the feathers on her back that had fluffed up while flying.

"Have a good flight?" He whispered to Hedwig, who gave a quiet hoot in reply. Harry grinned, "Good, well get some rest cause you may be going out later."

He placed Hedwig back into her cage and walked across the room to his desk and got out a quill, a bottle of navy blue ink, and a scroll of parchment. Aware Hedwig was watching him intently, Harry began writing.

Dear Ron,

How has the summer been for you? It hasn't been all that bad here; mostly the Dursleys just leave me in my room to fend for myself. Something strange is happening today though. Uncle Vernon is having the cleaners come in and because of that, he cleared out all of the food saying fumes would ruin it! It is a lot easier to clean with magic, don't you agree? Well, I had better send Hedwig out before she starts making noise. I don't want Uncle Vernon to lock her up again!

__

Harry

Harry looked over the letter and then, satisfied, called Hedwig over. She stood on his desk and held out her leg, trying to look professional. After tying the letter to her leg, he stroked her back and carried her over to the window. He watched her fly away, then turned back to his room.

Downstairs, he heard the doorbell ring and Uncle Vernon greet someone. Harry sighed and sat down on his bed, looking around his room for something to do. He looked over into the only corner he didn't use, which was piled with broken junk Dudly had thrown away. Curious, he got up with a creak and strolled over to the corner. On the top of the junk was a pewter colored thing that Dudly had called a CD player. He picked it up carefully, but didn't notice the cord hanging down from it. The cord caught on a small plastic joystick that went to one of Dudley's racing games, that was busted up as much as the other things in the pile. 

Harry caught his breath and watched as the joystick miraculously balanced on the curved plastic connecting the two tiny speakers. He tried to hold his right hand, which was holding the CD player, steady while reaching slowly for the joystick with his left. He had almost grabbed a hold of the joystick when his right hand gave an involuntary jerk and the joystick went crashing to the floor with a loud thud.

Harry froze, and in a few seconds, heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He turned toward the door as it opens and Uncle Vernon's flushed head popped in.

"What are you doing in here?" He asked in a strangled voice. Then he spotted the CD player in my hand and growled, "You leave Dudley's things alone! You hear?"

Harry nodded silently, knowing that if he spoke, Uncle Vernon would get even madder. He watched as Uncle Vernon's eyes narrowed dangerously, then pull back. The door shut behind him. Harry heard the footsteps going back downstairs then Uncle Vernon's voice reassuring the cleaner that there was nothing wrong.

Harry sighed and turned back to the pile. He decided wisely to leave the Joystick where it lay and took the CD player over to his bed. He studied it with more interest than he had before, not in amazement, for he had seen it before and knew it played muggle music. But he had not been able to use one before. As he looked at it, all he could see broken was the curved plastic that had caught hold of the joystick.

He saw a little switch thing that you could push to the side, he did that and the top of the CD player slowly opened. He noticed that the cover was also cracked. Once it opened, he grinned. There was a CD sitting placidly inside the CD player. Creed was written in scraggly writing across the top of the CD, then below that was written Human Clay.

Harry raised an eyebrow, he had never heard of Creed before, or Human Clay for that matter! He grinned as he suddenly imagined the entire Dursleys' incased in clay. On a second thought, he decided to throw Malfoy, who had constantly tortured him at school, in too.

Chuckling softly, Harry turned back to the CD. He put on the headphones as he had seen Dudly do, then adjusted them, for Dudly's head had been a lot bigger than his. Not expecting it to work, he started pressing buttons. Without realizing it, he pressed the play, then mute, and then, in the middle of the song, he pressed the mute again. Music, or more a screeching sound, blasted in his ears. He jumped about a foot and the CD player fell onto the edge of his bed, luckily not falling off onto the floor. He tore off the headphones and started pressing more buttons until the music stopped. Then Harry took deep breaths to calm down. Soon, he was laughing at himself. _At this rate, I'll be jumping when I see my shadow! _He scolded at himself.

He shook his head and decided to leave the CD player alone. He took it across the room and set it gently on the top of the pile of junk. He walked over to his open window, and heard the sound of an engine starting up. He looked down towards the driveway and saw a car pulling out.

He squinted to see the passengers and snorted in fury as he realized the Dursleys had left him here once again. He rolled his eyes and, while looking upward, caught a flash of white against the slate gray of the sky. Soon after, he could distinguish the shape of a bird soaring towards him. He grinned, not having expected an answer this soon. He stood aside as Hedwig swooped through the window.

Harry followed her over to his bed, where she had landed and untied the letter from her leg after a gentle pat on her back. She fluttered over to her cage as he unrolled the letter.

Harry,

The summer has been ok. Not much has been going on. Well, not for me at least, I'm sure the twins will want to show you something though! I would tell you, but that would ruin the surprise!

Harry winced, any surprise coming from the Fred and George deserves some warning to the victim.

Oh, Happy Birthday! I know it's a day early, but oh well. I didn't have time to get you a present, sorry! Don't worry though, I'll be sure to get you something!

Harry frowned, not that he expected everyone to buy him presents, it was just that Ron had always gotten him something, no matter how small, it was not like him to just "not have time". He shook his head and continued with the reading.

Have you owled Snuffles yet? If you have, how's he doing? I gotta go, Mum's yelling at me, apparently it's time to degnome the garden again.

Ron

P.S. I've got bad news. You can't stay here for the rest of the summer. Now that You-Know-Who's back, Dumbledor said it would be safer for you to stay at the Dursleys. Don't ask me why, it seems that a muggle house wouldn't be that safe… but you know, what Dumbledor says goes!

Harry smiled, remembering the first time he had helped to degnome a garden. It had been punishment for Fred, George, and Ron for stealing their dad's car to break him out of the Dursleys. Then, as Harry read the postscript, he frowned; he was definitely not looking forward to the rest of the summer with the Dursleys. In fact, that was possibly the worst thing that could happen to him, in his opinion.

Harry remembered that in his latest meeting with Voldemort, his enemy had said that the Dursleys house was the only place he could not get to him. Harry shook his head; maybe he could get Dumbledor to tell him at school, though he doubted it. Dumbledor seem to have a knack of not telling you the thing you need to know.

Looking back at the letter, he realized that he had not owled Sirius, AKA Snuffles, his godfather, also a convicted murderer and escapee from Azkaban, the wizard prison, yet. 

(A/N: yes I know that was a very bad sentence)

He shrugged; he still had the rest of the summer, about 1 month, to owl him.

Downstairs, he heard some whistling, then a vacuum cleaner starting up. He decided to take the time to do some of the homework that had been assigned over the summer, he still had to do a potion's and transfiguration essay and he had to learn a charm and perform it in front of the class on the first day.

Harry opened his door and snuck out of his room, using the loud vacuum to his advantage. He went to the cupboard beneath the stairs, sneaking behind the cleaner's back, took out his wand and the trunk he had still not been able to unpack and closed the closet door. Uncle Vernon had been sure to lock up his stuff under the door to make sure he no one saw the magical things, such as his wand, right when he came back from his school, Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

Just as he had closed the door, the vacuum died behind him, and a gruff voice called out.

"Who are you, boy?"

Harry turned around, the cleaner, eyes narrowed, was staring right at him. Harry straightened.

"My name is Harry, who are you?" He replied.

The cleaner studied him for a minute then stuck out his hand.

"The names Joe. What are you doing here? The others left a while ago."

Harry accepted the hand and nodded, "I know they left, Uncle Vernon usually doesn't let me go with them." He was being cautious, saying nothing that would make Uncle Vernon mad if Joe told him what he had said.

"Why not?" Joe asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, but I gotta do my homework, so if you'll excuse me…" He pointed behind him at his trunk.

Joe just nodded, "Go ahead, don't let me stop you." With that, he turned his vacuum cleaner on and began vacuuming the living room floor. Harry turned away and, making sure the wand was well hidden, grabbed his stuff. He went back to his room. He spent the entire day doing his homework. For his charm homework, he memorized the Factum Diffingere, which can change a facial feature. Harry worked of changing his eyes from green to blue. He realized that he looked exactly like his father, who had crystal blue eyes. He smiled at his mirror image before turning them back.

Around, 7:00, the cleaner finally left, and an hour later, the Dursleys came home. Harry sighed and, around 8:30, went to sleep.

(A/N: Well, that's it for the first chapter. Nothing too big happened in it, but I'm sure it will get more interesting as it goes on. Ok, you know how I told you to read and _REVIEW_??? Well, only 2 people reviewed and one was my best friend!!!!! How pathetic is that!!! That is either saying that no one read it or that no one liked it enough to review!!!! That is just plain mean people!! Well, here's my thanks to the people who did review!

Tadariada- I'm sorry it took a while, but I was a little stuck, It's hard for me to start stories! Thanks for reviewing!

&

Someone2- Thanks for reviewing when you could have just told me what you think! And is it a bad thing that it is detailed? I had to make it detailed otherwise it would have been really short. Sorry! ^puts up hands^ please don't shoot! I surrender! LOL, hopefully you don't use your knowledge of where I live to use like that! Lmao!

Thanks you two! You are the only two that reviewed but I hope I get more on this chapter! Hope you liked it!)


	3. With the Guide of a Sprite

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic ****

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic

Chapter 2- With the Guide of a Sprite

(A/N: Ok, I'm still disappointed about not getting very many reviews on my prologue. So here's the second chapter, not too much happens here, no real big disasters, I think, I don't know yet since I'm writing this before the actual chapter. LOL well, please R&R!)

(Disclaimer: I own none of J. K. Rowling's characters! Well, you know what Rowling owns, so I don't have to go into details. I own only the plot, though some of the ideas belong to my friend and beta reader, Someone2 (see screen name Someone2 and Krazy Kris. I'm KK) that's it! As I said before: R/R!!!!!)

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The next day Harry got up after a dreamless night to the sound of tapping on his window. He shook his head sleepily and looked at the window. He sat bolt upright, there appeared to be a 4 headed owl outside his window! Then, as he blinked several times, he realized there were actually 4 different owls out there.

He laughed quietly, got out of bed, and opened the window, letting the owls in. They fluttered onto the edge of his bed. Looking at them, he could see two that looked like they came from Hogwarts and Hedwig, who had gone out last night had probably stopped at Hermione's, was there, but Harry wasn't sure about the last one.

Harry took the letter off one of the Hogwarts owls and was about to read it, but the other owl from Hogwarts hooted impatiently. Harry grinned and took off the Hogwarts owl's letter and package, the letter from Hedwig, and the unknown owl's letter and package. When he was done with that, the two owls from Hogwarts flew off, although the unknown owl stayed. Hedwig hopped over to her cage to get a drink. Harry looked at the letters. One of the letters from Hogwarts was his list of school supplies and books; he would look at that later. The other letter and package from Hogwarts was from Hagrid, saying Happy Birthday. Harry grinned and turned toward the package. It was a huge package almost in the shape of a D. Harry wondered how an owl could have flown with it. Even though it had been a large great-horned owl, it still seemed too heavy for an owl to lift and carry in flight.

Harry shook his head and reached hesitantly toward the package. Remembering the present Hagrid had given him for his birthday before his 3rd year, a biting book, he prodded the package, then pulled his hand away quickly. He half expected it to jump up and run around the room screaming bloody murder, but the package only rocked slightly from his prod, and lay still. He sighed in relief; nothing had bitten him, and that's saying something when it came to Hagrid's presents.

Grinning, he grabbed the present, pulled it into his lap and began ripping the disheveled wrapping paper off. He smiled, for in his hands was a large bow, about ¾ths his own height, and a thin quiver full of feather fletched arrows. They were the exact replicas of the bow and arrows Hagrid had used in his first year when Hagrid, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Draco, and himself were looking for the unicorn killer as punishment for being caught in the corridors after bedtime.

Harry studied the bow in his hands. It was made of a lightweight but sturdy and durable wood, probably oak or mahogany. It had carvings of vines all the way down the dark brown wood, and the string that connected the ends was taut. Harry plucked it and grinned and the quiet sound it made. He stood up, hefting the bow in his hand and raised it to his cheek; he pulled the string back as far as he could, just about to his ear, and let go. The string seemed to jump forward, smacking his arm with a loud _twang_ before coming to a vibrating halt in its normal position.

Harry almost dropped the bow onto the floor, but caution made him turn and drop it on the bed before clutching his forearm and jumping around the room, biting his lip in agony. When he had calmed down, he pried his right hand away from his sore left arm, which had a bright red line from where the string had hit it.

He rubbed the spot gently.

"Damn, that hurt!" he whispered. Reminding himself to ask Hagrid how to shoot the darn thing before trying it on his own again.

He shook his head, and turned to the rest of the things that lay strewn across the bed. He picked up the letter that Hedwig had brought back and unrolled it.

_Harry,_

How are things going at the Dursleys? Are they treating you all right? I hope so! Happy Birthday! I'm sorry, but I can't give you a present right now, I didn't have time to get to Diagon Alley yet. Don't worry though, I'll get one when we are in Diagon Alley (no you aren't going to pick it out). 

Harry frowned again and muttered to himself. "Ok, something's up." It's one thing if one of your friends hasn't gotten you your present yet, it's a whole other thing if both of your best friends suddenly "didn't have time" to get one. He turned back to the letter

__

Again, I am really sorry! Well, I hope you have a nice birthday and that the Dursleys don't treat you too bad!

Love, 

Hermione

Harry sighed, wanting to know what they were planning, but just reached over and grabbed the last letter and the package. He opened the letter.

__

Harry-

Are you ok? Are the Dursleys leaving you alone?

Harry smiled; it seemed that everyone was more worried about the Dursleys than he was.

__

They had better! Well, I don't have too much time, gotta send the owl, so I just want to say Happy Birthday and that you should send me back a letter with Horen, the owl. Hope you like your present. It was your fathers. I never found out where he got it but I thought you would like it!

-Snuffles

Harry smiled; he always liked getting letters from Sirius, then looked curiously down at the present that lay wrapped in his lap. He tore it open and in it was a small gold-chained necklace. Harry frowned and picked it up, now noticing that the pendant on it was an eagle made of silver, wings open and talons forward. He grinned and clasped the necklace around his neck. It may have been his imagination, but the eagle's eye, which was a tiny ruby, seemed to glow. When he looked down at it, the ruby was as normal as it could be.

"Awesome," He grabbed up a parchment, quill, and ink and wrote a quick reply saying that the Dursleys were treating him no worse than usual, that he loved the present, and asking if he was sure he didn't know anything about how his father had gotten the necklace. He made a gesture at the owl and tied the letter to its leg when it hopped over. "Back to Sirius." He told the owl, which then flew out the window.

Harry yawned, dressed, and decided to go downstairs to start the day. He trod wearily down the stairs into the kitchen and began frying bacon and eggs on the stove. He went through his list of egg choices. He decided to make scrambled, that was Dudleys favorite and usually if he made that, Dudley was happy, and as long as Dudley is happy, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were happy.

Soon after, he heard a thundering sound from the stairs. Harry didn't have to look around to know Dudley had come down to the smell of bacon and eggs.

From behind him he heard. "Are you almost done with that food?"

"Yes, I'm done." Harry said without turning. He grabbed plates from above him and slid the eggs and bacon onto each, making sure to give Dudley the biggest part. He took them over and set them on the table, then snorted in disgust at Dudley's manners, or perhaps, lack of manners.

Soon after that, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia came down the stairs. Uncle Vernon glared at Harry and Aunt Petunia shrieked at Harry to make more eggs and bacon for them. Harry turned around so they wouldn't see him roll his eyes and got out more eggs and bacon. Breakfast passed after that without incident. After breakfast, just as Harry was about to go back upstairs, Uncle Vernon's rumbling voice stopped him.

"Boy, get back here!"

Harry turned around with an eyebrow raised. "Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

Vernon growled, "Me and Petunia have decided that you need to work more around here. We have been too generous to you, letting you stay in our house, eating our food. So we have decided you have to earn all of that!"

Harry looked on in amazement, then shook his head, "What do you want me to do?"

"Starting with today, you are to go out every morning and mow the yard, after that you will weed the garden, every day. Then you will come in here and vacuum the living room, and all the other rooms except your own, you are to do that in your free time. Then you must wash all the windows. If I see so much as a spec of dust on them, you will do them all over again do you here me?…" The list continued on for several more minutes with threats and growls added occasionally.

"You want me to do this everyday?" Harry asked.

"Of course! I am having a realtor come by and tell me how much this house is worth. If it is worth enough we will be moving."

Harry frowned, "Where would we go?"

Uncle Vernon narrowed his eyes at him, "Who said anything about you going?"

Harry blinked, "Well, if I don't go with you, where will I go."

Vernon glared at him, "We are still thinking about that, but we don't want you messing up our new house. Now stop asking questions and get to work!"

Harry nodded and went outside, still thinking about what his uncle had said. He sighed and looked around the yard; _This is going to be a long day! _

The rest of the day slowly dragged on. After mowing both the front and back lawns, he weeded the garden, then came in and did his indoor chores. It was suppertime before he knew it. As he sat down to eat, Vernon growled, "Did you finish all your chores?"

Harry looked up, nodded and continued eating.

Vernon narrowed his eyes, but also continued eating his supper. "Then you can go to your room after you eat. I don't want to see you anymore than I have to."

Again Harry just nodded, too exhausted to speak. After finishing the meager meal, if one could call it that, the Dursleys had supplied him, he trudged wearily up the stairs and flopped down on his bed. Harry almost immediately drifted into an exhausted dreamless sleep, but not before glancing out the window, seeing a full moon and tiredly worried how Professor Lupin was doing.

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_It's 6 in the morning, the day after the full moon, and he chose this specific time to meet. _Remus Lupin shook his head as if to rid himself of the sleepiness that seemed to pull on his eyelids. He paused on a landing in the middle of a staircase, yawning, then continued climbing. At the top of the stairs he paused again, looking from left to right, trying to remember his way around. It had been a while since his last visit to Hogwarts, that added to the fact that he had gotten absolutely no sleep the night before due to it being the full moon and he was too busy making sure he didn't eat the neighbor, made it nearly impossible to find his way around the gigantic castle of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. He wasn't even sure why Albus Dumbledor had asked to meet him. He knew for sure that if this was to take up the Defense Against Dark Arts teaching job, he would say no.

_That's all there is to it, I will not teach again no matter what. It's not as though I don't like teaching, but the stares from the kids, the whispers. They act as though I might attack them even when the moon isn't full. _He shook his head again, banishing the thought and took the right passageway, hoping for a corridor he recognized.

"Need some help?" A high-pitched voice came from behind him.

Remus whirled around, surprised. And found no one. He blinked, and slowly turned. There was no one in sight, yet he was sure he heard someone say something. He sighed, he must be even more tired than he thought, and continued down the hall.

The voice came again, "You look a bit lost."

Remus stopped short and called out, "Who's there?" In this castle, it wouldn't surprise him if the walls themselves were talking.

"Me!" This time the voice came from directly above him. He looked up.

Hovering above his head, was a small fairy, not the kind of pixie that loved to cause destruction, but a small glowing ball with wings. It fluttered down and rested on Remus's left shoulder. As soon as it landed it looked more like a small child than a ball of light.

"You look lost." The fairy repeated.

Remus shook his head, far weirder things had happened to him than this. He gave the fairy a small smile, "Actually I am a bit lost, do you know the way to the Headmaster's office?"

Grinning wildly, the fairy launched into the air again, "Of course! I'll show you right where it is!" the fairy tilted her head, "I am Thestral. Who are you?"

"My name is Remus" Lupin replied.

Thestral gave a little bow, which was quite strange according to the fact that she was hovering in the air, "Pleased to meet you Remus, please follow me!" With that, the fairy took off down the corridor.

Chuckling at the fairy's enthusiasm, Remus jogged after her.

Several corridors, stairs, and too many turns to count later, Remus stopped, panting, in front of the gargoyle leading to the headmaster's office. Thestral had taken a perch on the gargoyle's nose, waiting for Remus to catch his breath. Smiling at the fairy, he muttered the password that Dumbledore had given him.

"Bumblebee Brownies."

The gargoyle lurched to the side, unseating Thestral from her perch. She glared indignantly at the gargoyle before following Remus into Dumbledore's office. As Remus raised a hand to knock, the door swung open and Dumbledore's smiling face came into view.

"Ah Remus! I hope this wasn't too much of a problem, but I'm glad you came."

Looking at Dumbledore's cheerful face, Remus could hardly stay grumpy, he smiled, "It wasn't a problem at all, I even found a temporary guide!" He pointed at Thestral who, after buzzing around the room, decided she liked Remus's shoulder better than any of the other perches.

Dumbledore grinned, "Ah yes, Hagrid found a large group of fairies flying around the forbidden forest, out of a home, so we adopted them here."

Remus smiled, but soon became more serious, "Professor? Why exactly did you want to talk to me about?"

Dumbledore nodded and clapped his aged hands together, "Let's get down to business then shall we? Now, This is the main reason I wanted to talk to you…"

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(A/N: I am starting to hate FF.N (not really)! I just finally finished my chapter (after a long delay I might add) and now I can't post it….. life sucks. Oh well, I hope this chapter gets more reviews than the other ones did. I know this took a heck of a long time but it is a bit longer so that counts for something doesn't it? I hope so. Well, I want to thank those of you who did review my last chapter and special thanks to my best friend Someone2 who contributed some of these ideas! Enjoy! And Review!!!!!

Another special thanks to Ellie, one of my reviewers, who wrote a nice review to me, hope you like this chapter. And if you ever do draw a dragon, could you send it to me? Again, R/R!!!!!)


	4. A Surprise of the Best Kind

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic  
Chapter 3- A surprise of the best kind  
(A/N: ok, this is chapter three. I know I haven't been getting these chapters up as fast as most authors, but I have been pretty busy and I'm not the kind of person who sits down and writes a full chapter at one time, though I wish I was. Lol, well I'll get going here. Please R/R!)  
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Harry woke to a tapping on his window. He sighed and sat up straight, but when he opened his eyes, he saw it was still dark out, though his room was somewhat illuminated by the full moon outside his bedroom window. He frowned and glanced at the clock by his bed. It shone 1:43.   
Who would be sending an owl at this time? He thought tiredly.  
The tapping continued and grew a bit more insistent. Harry sighed and stumbled over to the window. When he opened it, he stepped aside, waiting for the familiar swooshes of wings indicating an owl. Nothing came. He frowned again and stuck his head out the open window, scanning the sky for an owl. Seeing nothing, he looked down and promptly let out a yelp of surprise. Standing below his window was his two best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.  
Both of them were grinning up at him as he looked down in amazement. He finally woke up from his reverie when Dudley let out a loud snort in the room next to him.  
"What are you doing here?" He hissed.  
Hermione smiled, "Why don't you let us in and we'll tell you?"  
Harry frowned, "How are you going to get up?"  
"Oh ye of little faith." Ron grinned and started to hoist up a ladder.  
Harry shook his head and backed away from the window. Hermione came up first, Ron soon after. They were each carrying something, though trying valiantly to hide it from Harry.  
"Now do you mind telling me why you are here?" Harry asked them.  
Ron pretended to look hurt, "So what? We can't just stop by to say hi?"  
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Not when you're hiding something behind you back."  
Ron looked sheepish, then glanced at Hermione, "Now, why don't you tell him why we are here?" he said in a sweet tone.  
Hermione looked at him oddly, which Harry noted, then nodded. Quickly she pulled out a package from behind her, smiled and said, "Happy Birthday Harry!"  
Harry blinked, mouth agape, "Wha?"  
Hermione smiled, "You don't really think that we would just 'forget' to get you birthday presents, do you?"  
A wide grin slowly spread over Harry's face, "I've never really had a birthday party before!"  
"I know, that's why we decided to come here to give you your presents! Now, are you going to take this present or do I get to keep it?" Hermione said.  
Harry took the present from her and sat down on the edge of the bed. His friends sat beside him, Ron on his right and Hermione on his left, watching him open the first present. Hermione's present was, of course, books, two of them in fact.  
"Quidditch Seekers and their Secret Moves" and "Animagi; All you need to know" Harry spoke the titles out loud, the first with enthusiasm and the second with questioning. He looked at Hermione, "Animagi?"  
She shrugged, "I thought you might be interested, your dad and his friends being Animagi..." She trailed off, uncertain, but Harry grinned and gave her a quick hug, "Thanks! I love 'em" Hermione blushed and smiled.  
Ron gave Harry his present with a grin. The present was an oblong oval shape, about the size of an egg, and heavy too! He gave Ron a curious glance then tore off the paper. Inside was a black stone, seemingly made of obsidian, as it emerged from the wrapping of paper, it changed rapidly from black to a sky blue. When it changed, he dropped it in surprise. Harry gazed at it in rapture, then turned a surprised look at Ron.  
"What is it?" He asked turning back to look at the stone in his lap that was hovering between a sky blue and aqua color.  
"It's sort of a dark detector. My dad said it was..." He frowned, "a Luna Opacus. It means Moonshade in Latin I think, dad just kept calling it an Opac. In technical terms, it displays the emotions of the humans or sentient species around you that are directed toward you. For example, if someone around you really hated you, it might turn red or black, I think. If people around you like you, it will turn a lighter color, like the blue-green it is now. I'm not sure what all the colors mean, you'll have to figure that out yourself." He explained, "I thought it might be helpful.... What?" He just noticed that Harry was looking at him strangely.  
"I have never heard you speak in... 'Technical terms'." Behind him, Hermione unsuccessfully tried to conceal a laugh.  
Ron shot daggers at Hermione over Harry's head (which was a harder feat for Ron than usual, for Harry had grown at least a half-foot over the summer) then replied, "Well, I guess I've just been around Hermione too much." Which stopped Hermione's laugh short, and she looked back at Ron indignantly.  
Harry raised his eyebrows and repeated, "You've been around Hermione too much...?" He glanced back at her, then back to Ron, "Is there something I don't know about?"  
To Harry's surprise, both Hermione and Ron blushed and looked away. Harry laughed. Then, from the room down the hall, there came a grumbling, then heavy footsteps in the hallway. Harry froze, "Crap!" he whispered.  
A pounding on his door came soon after the footsteps and a gruff voice called out, "You annoying little brat! Stop talking to yourself! You are disturbing my Petunie's beauty sleep! Keep it down!"  
When the footsteps back down the hall faded, Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and Ron muttered sarcastically, "Yeah little Petunie needs that beauty sleep pretty damn badly."  
Harry snorted with laughter and Dudley, in the next room, snorted seemingly in reply. This only brought on more laughter from Harry and Ron. Even Hermione had to grin with them.  
Recovering from the laughter, Harry grimaced, "You guys should get going anyway. I need some sleep; the Dursleys have me working more than usual, earlier than usual. Plus, we can't be waking up Uncle Vernon again. Next time he might actually open the door, then we would be in trouble." He gave a wry grin.  
Hermione nodded and stood up, "That makes sense, c'mon Ron, let's get back to your house before your mum gets worried."  
Harry looked at her, surprised, "Your staying at his house already?"  
Hermione nodded again, "Yeah, I got there this evening, before we left for your house."  
Ron got up reluctantly, "I wish you could come with us Harry, but Professor Dumbledore made it clear that you had to stay here."  
Harry shook his head, "Don't worry about it, I know it's not your fault."  
"Thanks," Ron replied, then turned and walked to the window, "You better owl us!"  
Harry smiled, "Of course!"  
Hermione grinned and gave Harry a hug, "I'll see you at Diagon Alley, and so you know, we are going to pick you up next Saturday to go ok?" As Harry nodded, she also turned and followed Ron down the ladder.  
Harry smiled to himself after they had gone. I don't think that the summer will be that long after all. He looked back down at the stone Ron had given him. Luna Opacus. He thought to himself, testing the words. Now that his friends were gone and he was alone, it had faded into a foggy white color, tinged with yellow and orange. He supposed that it was picking up the Dursley's feelings. So I'm guessing yellow is disgust and orange is... fear maybe? Looking closer at the stone, He saw a sort of core, a sphere, of brick red. Hate perhaps? I know the Dursleys don't like me, but I'm sure they don't hate me. He frowned and shuddered at the thought that came next. Voldemort... could his hate of me be that strong?   
Harry sighed and set the stone on the desk beside his bed. He would get the rest of the night's sleep and wake up early to get to work, maybe even have some free time at the end of the day. With these thoughts in his mind, he lay down, flicked off the lamp at his bedside and fell asleep with a smile, thinking about his first ever birthday party.  
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He clicked the tips of his bone white fingers together, looking with contemptuous blood red eyes at the pathetic being bowing before him.  
"Well...?" He drawled, "Have you found out anything at all?"  
The man in a hooded cloak glanced up nervously at his master. "N-n-nothing, m-master. H-he is too well g-guarded."  
The red eyes flared and the man looked down at the ground and kissed the hem of his master's robe in terror.  
"What?" The red eyed man hissed, "You DARE come before me with NOTHING?" He half stood, glaring down at the trembling man.  
"F-forgive m-me, M-m-master. I h-had no way of g-getting to him."  
The red eyed man sat back down, contemplating the man before him. "Well, then," His voice was cold and calm, the very tone that made kings bow before him, "I suppose you had best find a way to get at him. I do not want you to return here unless you have information for me, and I expect you back in less than a week."  
The fearful man's eyes widened, "But Pott-"  
"YOU QUESTION ME?" The red eyed man roared.  
The now terrified man seemed to hug the floor, kissing the hem of his master's robe repeatedly. "N-never, Mas-"  
"And NEVER speak his name in my presence!" The red eyed man, having shot up in rage, sat back down. "Now leave me, Pettigrew"  
Nodding, the thin, quivering man crawled backwards, only daring to stand up and take a breath when he rounded the nearest corner away from the Master's chamber. With a sneer of disdain on his face, something he would never do in the attendance of his Master, he transformed into a scrawny gray rat and scuttled through the hallway for the closest pipe. Which is the fastest way out of the castle without getting attacked by dementors or any other form of monster.  
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(A/N: hope you liked that! I'll make this really short so you don't waste too much time just reading an authors note, but since I don't have all that many reviewers. I'm going to do personals. I'll also do the reviewers from chapter 2! Here you are:   
Someone2-Thanks a lot, I'm really glad you decided to review even though you could have told me to my face if you wanted to (or over email but same diff.)  
Ellie- lol, I sometimes have a habit of being too descriptive. Sometimes people don't like that... oops! Oh well, I think I mentioned this at the end of the last chapter, but in case I'm wrong... if you do draw a dragon, please scan it and send me a coply! ^_^  
Jagara- Thanks, You probably won't see who the dragon is for a long time, but there will be clues, if you pay attention (though since I'm not good at subtlety...) and don't worry Sirius should appear is one of the next chapters!  
Lily Daniels- Thanks for reviewing, I hope to hear how you like it in later chapters. If there is something you don't like, please tell me and I'll check it out!  
Me (no not me, It's the name of the reviewer ? )- thank you so much for adding your comments. And don't worry about cliffies, I'm not that great at them, if the last was, it was by accident and don't expect much more :) anyway, I also hope it turns out to be a good story!  
Again, I thank all who reviewed and all of you who didn't, don't worry I don't get mad very easily and I don't know where you live *damn!* oh well, please review! ~§Phalanx§) 


	5. Karate

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic  
  
Chapter 4- Karate  
  
(A/N: Hey, this is the 4th chapter, finally! I don't have too much to say except that I tried to make it a little longer than the last ones and I hope you enjoy it! ~Phalanx Dragon)  
  
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Harry was on the grounds of an old mansion. He at first thought he was at the old Riddle Mansion, where Voldemort had hidden out at the beginning of last year. When he looked around, however, it proved stranger still. Though the walls of the mansion were covered in ivy, and the weeds had overgrown the garden, the rest of the mansion was still in perfect state, nevertheless abandoned. This was definitely not the Riddle mansion. Harry frowned and stepped in the direction of the house, ignoring a sharp pain in his scar each time he got closer.  
  
By the time he was a few feet away from the window, the pain was almost unbearable, still Harry forced himself onward. When he reached the window, he staggered with the pain in his head. He reached out and grabbed hold of the windowsill to keep his balance. As soon as his hand touched the wood of the old mansion, the pain in his scar stopped and warmth flowed through him. Harry frowned; glancing up the side of the ivy covered wall. Seeing nothing unusual, he then glanced in the window, hardly noticing the blooming lily in a flowerpot on the edge.  
  
Inside the window, he could see a dark figure walking around. It fingered a scorched scrap of parchment, the wording on it illegible. Harry wasn't looking at the parchment, however, for the hand now visible was a bone white spider-like hand. Harry recognized that hand from the cemetery at the end of his fourth year, when the Triwizard cup had transported Cedric and him there. The hand belonged to the evil wizard known as Lord Voldemort. Harry felt something twinge in his scar, not pain, but more like the tingling feeling of fear. He raised his hand from the windowsill to feel his scar, but as soon as he lost contact with the sill, the pain returned, sharper than ever. He gasped, then, without hesitation, dropped to the ground, hoping Voldemort had not heard him.  
  
Harry heard the crumpling of parchment, then light footsteps that stopped directly behind and above him. He looked up, expecting to be looking directly at the tip of a want in the hand of Voldemort. Instead, he saw only the tips of the bone-white fingers as Voldemort, clutching the sill, looked out the window, luckily not glancing down. Maybe he had been hoping to meet someone, or at least see something, in any case, he swiped the flowerpot out of the window, emitting a low yell frustration, showering Harry with soil. Then the hand disappeared and Harry heard the light footsteps walking away from the window.  
  
Harry let out his breath in a sigh, just now realizing he had been holding it. He looked at the flower, which had fallen out of the pot and was lying on the ground next to him. As he watched, the lily's roots dug into the soil where it lay, pulling the flower upright.  
  
It's probably been enchanted. Harry thought with a small smile. He stood up, keeping to the side of the window where he did not risk being seen, and looked around. Not knowing how long he would be here, he decided to explore the grounds. He walked around the wall. As soon as he turned the corner, he stopped short. A large emerald lawn, seeming to be freshly mowed stretched before him. That however, was not the reason he stopped. Standing directly before him was a man in a long flowing black cloak.  
  
"Who are you?" Harry asked the man, surprised his voice was so steady.  
  
The man behind the cloak chuckled and said in a low voice, "You know my Harry. Think, we just met not too long ago."  
  
Harry paused, the asked eagerly, "Sirius?" After all, he had only met his godfather a year and 2 months ago, not to mention meeting him in the middle of his last year.  
  
Again, the man laughed, he pulled back his cloak to show Sirius with an odd expression on his face. Sirius grinned, for some reason looking very malicious. "Wrong, Harry."  
  
Harry looked puzzled, "what do you mean, wrong?"  
  
Sirius shook his head, "Look past petty disguises, look at me as though you would a stranger, tell me what you see."  
  
Harry frowned, getting suspicious. He squinted at Sirius, then sighed, "I don't see anything differ-" He cut his sentence short, his eyes widening in horror. Before him, he watched Sirius's face pale, his eyes narrow and turn red, his nose shrink to slits, and his mouth became lip-less.  
  
"Now what do you see?" Voldemort said in his high-pitched voice.  
  
Harry staggered backwards, his hand leaving the wall of the house, making his scar explode with pain. Voldemort's cruel laughter overwhelmed him as he fell into darkness.  
  
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Harry sat up with a small yelp, eyes wide with horror of the nightmare, his scar throbbing with pain. He instinctively wanted to get up and check to see if the burning in his scar was visible, he knew however that it would not be, so he fell back to the pillow with a sigh. In the room down he hall, Vernon gave a restless growl and harry could hear the bed creak as he shifted. Harry closed his eyes, but soon opened them again for fear of falling back o sleep, not wanting to risk having another nightmare. By now the pain in his scar had ebbed away so he glanced over at the clock. He realized that it wasn't that long from dawn, so he decided to wait it out.  
  
He still had his potions essay to do. He reached down under his bed and lifted the loose floorboard to get out his Potions book, a flashlight, a large piece of parchment, a bottle of navy blue ink, and a large eagle feather quill.  
  
An hour and a half later, Harry paused to stretch his hand, freeing it from writer's cramp. He glanced out the window; ten minutes ago he had put his flashlight away, it being light enough to write without it. He looked down at his essay, it was several inches short and he had run out of things to say about 5 inches ago. After all, it is very hard to work on an essay for your lease favorite subject after having a terrifying nightmare and waking up to a curse scar throbbing with pain.  
  
He sighed and glanced at the clock, it shone 6:45. Around now Vernon and Petunia usually went downstairs for breakfast, which Harry had incidentally forgotten to make. Sure enough, a couple minutes later he heard a loud grumbling and Petunia's shrill voice, then heavy footsteps down the stairs.  
  
Harry quickly twisted on the top of his inkbottle and stashed it and the other materials back under the loose floorboard. He swung out of bed and got dressed. As soon as he finished, Vernon yelled up at him.  
  
"You get down here boy and make my breakfast!"  
  
Harry winced, but realized that the Dursleys would actually give him a reason to stop thinking about the nightmare, which still confused him, so he opened the door to his room and walked downstairs. He went into the kitchen and went straight to the refrigerator, but his uncle stopped him with a gruff voice.  
  
"Pancakes today, boy!"  
  
"Yes, sir." Harry said almost mockingly, too tired to disagree.  
  
Harry quickly got out the pancake mix and had the pancakes done in record time. Again Dudley came down to eat as soon as the smell of food wafted up to his room. He had started thundering back up the stairs when Petunia stopped him.  
  
"Now honey, not yet. Your father and I have a surprise for you." She explained.  
  
Dudley turned around, eyeing her suspiciously, "Presents?"  
  
"No, something better! We have signed you up for this summer's Martial Arts training! It's only for this month, but you can be in it next summer too! Now isn't that exciting?"  
  
Harry almost burned himself on the stove when he doubled up with laughter at the look on Dudley's face.  
  
"Do I have to?" Dudley whined.  
  
Vernon looked up and, for the first time Harry could remember, scolded Dudley. "Now look here, your mother worked very hard to get you into that class, and you are going to be in it if I have to drag you there! Your mother will go with you the first day to make sure you are treated right, but you will be in that class!"  
  
Harry had to turn away to stifle a small snicker, unfortunately, he didn't keep it quiet enough. Vernon turned toward him, face flushed red, and bellowed.  
  
"YOU GET UPSTAIRS BOY!"  
  
Harry stepped back in surprise at the outburst and quickly dashed up the stairs to his room. Vernon's voice roared after him, "And don't come down until we tell you to!"  
  
In his room, Harry frowned, if Vernon was at work and Petunia and Dudley were at the martial arts class, he would be at home by himself. He grinned; finally he would have some time to relax! He strode across the room, smiling at Hedwig who hooted at him from her cage, and stood by the window, waiting for the Dursleys to leave. Vernon left first and a few minutes later, Petunia and a whining Dudley got into the family car and drove away.  
  
Freedom at last! Harry thought, he walked over to his bed and bent down to the loose floorboard. Pulling it up, he grabbed his new book: Quidditch Seekers and their secret moves. This kept him occupied for several hours until a large crash from downstairs interrupted him. His head snapped up in surprise and he quietly shut the book. There was whispering from down the stairs and he walked silently across his room to the door to hear better.  
  
"-gotta get out of here, if we keep any longer the neighbors will hear us!" a deep voice said in a hushed tone.  
  
"I am not leaving here with nothing!" A second voice growled, slightly louder than the first.  
  
"Frankie, keep it down," There was a tense pause, "I, for one, don't want to get caught."  
  
Harry was sure that the owners of the voices were thieves or burglars. Unfortunately, he had no clue as to what to do about it. He looked around the room for any sort of weapon. The closest thing he found was a Carpenter's Triangle (used to draw right angles) that had been left there since the summer before his second year when Vernon had a carpenter fix bars on his window. He grabbed the metal triangle and crept toward the door, he pressed his ear on the door and heard footsteps in the general direction of the master bedroom.  
  
Harry eased open his door and walked silently down the hall. Luckily, Harry had walked down the hall enough to know where the creaky boards were, the intruders, however, didn't. Behind him in the hall around the corner, he heard the floor creak. Harry leapt into the nearest bedroom, which happened to be Dudley's.  
  
"Yo, Frankie!" The man in the master bedroom, who Harry recognized as the first voice, yelled. "These people got nothin'!"  
  
The man who made the floor creak, called out in reply, so quietly that Harry couldn't tell what he said. Harry saw as Frankie passed by Dudley's room, then reappeared a second later. He walked in, calling to the other man.  
  
"I found another room here!"  
  
Uh-oh! Harry thought. If they combed the room, they would definitely find him. He looked around the room, still clutching the metal triangle in his hand. He wondered if they had any weapons, if they did, he would be dead before he could reach them to use the triangle, and even if he could get back to his room, he didn't dare use his wand to stop them. He couldn't get in any more trouble with the Ministry of Magic, plus all of the business with erasing their memory when the muggle police would definitely want to question them.  
  
Realizing he should take out this one before the other came ('first voice' was still scrounging around in the master bedroom) so, thinking quickly, Harry stood up, took aim and hurled the triangle at the man. He let out a small yell before falling to the floor in a heap. The other man ran in, took one look at Frankie and, not even looking to see what caused Frankie's pain, dashed out of the room, muttering about how he knew it was a bad idea.  
  
So much for partner loyalty. Harry thought as he walked across the room and knelt by Frankie who, luckily, was still breathing. From outside, Harry heard a loud engine start up and roar down the street, away from the house. It was so loud that Harry had to wonder how it had approached the house without his hearing it. He looked around, not knowing what to do now, he supposed he would have to wait until the Dursleys came home, anyway, Petunia would love the chance to get on the news.  
  
Harry ran down to the living room, looking for rope to tie up the man with. In the end, he had to go all the way out to the garage to find some. When he got back, the man was stirring restlessly on the floor, still unconscious. Harry quickly bound the rope around his ankles and wrists.  
  
Soon after, the man woke up, grumbling about a splitting headache, which Harry didn't doubt, the Triangle had hit him squarely behind his temple and had only now stopped bleeding. The man looked up at Harry and frowned.  
  
"Where am I?" he asked, confused, "And who the hell are you?"  
  
Harry glared at him, "You don't need to know my name and this is the house you and your loyal partner broke into." He said the word loyal with a voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
The man looked surprised, he glanced around the room, "So I'm busted and John just left me here?" He collapsed against the ropes that bound him.  
  
"That pretty much sums it up." Harry replied.  
  
"So. What are you going to do to me?" He asked, obviously nervous.  
  
Harry looked at him, "I'm going to wait until my Uncle gets home, then you're probably going to court."  
  
The man looked extremely grim, he glanced at Harry, "You know, before this, I always looked at kids your age as just that, kids, always getting in the way, never any good. Now I have just been caught by one. How pathetic is that?"  
  
Harry smile and his only reply was, "The Irony Gods strike again!" The two then sat in silence for a long time before Harry heard a slamming from downstairs.  
  
"Stay there," he told the man. As he left he heard the man mutter, "Like I have a choice."  
  
Harry almost ran down the stairs, halfway down, he heard a roar of rage. He must have found the thing they broke.  
  
As soon as he stepped down off the last stair he knew he was right, Vernon was standing in front of an antique vase that was shattered on the floor. Vernon looked up at him, eyes wild.  
  
"Did you do this?" He pointed at the vase.  
  
Harry shook his head, quickly explaining, "A couple of burglars broke in! One got away, but the other is tied up in Dudley's room."  
  
Vernon glared at him, as though he would be able to tell whether Harry was lying from a look. After a few tense moments, Vernon brushed roughly past him and stomped up the stairs. Harry followed quickly. Vernon slammed the door to Dudley's room upen and stopped so short Harry almost walked into him. The man looked up at him not looking very surprised.  
  
"So you're the boy's uncle?" He asked.  
  
Vernon growled first at the man, then at Harry. "You told him about me?"  
  
"Just that you are my uncle." Harry replied.  
  
Vernon jerked his head toward the door then walked out, Harry following. As soon as they were out of the man's hearing, Vernon turned to Harry.  
  
"What did you think you were doing?" He asked angrily.  
  
Harry blinked, "What do you mean? It's not like I let them in!"  
  
Vernon growled, "Why couldn't you use your ma- er. abnormality to stop the other one?"  
  
"I'm not allowed to. remember?"  
  
"Has that ever stopped you before? You can attack family members, terrify your cousin, yet you can not even use. IT to stop people who are trying to rob us of everything we own?!" Vernon's voice had risen in volume until he was practically yelling in Harry's face.  
  
Harry took a step back, resisting the urge to fan the air between them. "Um well, I couldn't get to my wand so-" He was cut off by Vernon flushing red and yelling: "DO NOT SPEAK OF THAT IN MY HOUSE!"  
  
Harry nodded, not bothering to mention that he had brought it up, and was slightly distracted by Petunia entering the room, asking what Harry was doing now.  
  
Vernon turned and began explaining what had happened. Harry, taking the opportunity, slipped out of the room and up to his bedroom. Downstairs, he heard Petunia's shriek of horror and Vernon's loud announcement that he was going to call the police.  
  
The next couple of hours were filled with a lot of police sirens, Vernon's outraged yelling, Dudley's complaining, and Harry sitting up in his room doing nothing but puzzling over the previous night's dream, which had been forgotten in the days events. As soon as everything had calmed down, Vernon called for Harry to come down into the kitchen. He was welcomed into the kitchen with two identical glares.  
  
"Sit."  
  
Harry sat.  
  
The room was filled with a tense silence as the two continued to glare at him.  
  
Harry fidgeted, then finally spoke.  
  
"So. What exactly did you want to talk to me about?" He questioned.  
  
Vernon's eyes narrowed, but he replied, "We don't want you staying at home by yourself anymore, don't think it's safe. For the house mind! So you will be going with your Aunt and Cousin to karate until you go off to-" He glanced around, "St. Brutes's."  
  
Harry tried to hide a grin as he said ok, but Vernon caught on.  
  
"Now don't think you'll get to do anything! I won't be paying for you to take lessons, too! You will sit and do nothing, and if you mess anything up, I will personally." He trailed off, unable to think of a proper threat.  
  
Harry nodded, "Alright then." He paused, "Is that all?"  
  
After a small pause Petunia got up and went into the living room and Vernon just turned back to his newspaper.  
  
Harry took this as a dismissal and went back up to his room.  
  
Fortunately in the day's excitement, Vernon had forgotten to assign Harry extra work as well as failing to notice that Harry hadn't done his daily chores. In this respect, Harry spent the rest of the day finishing reading his new quidditch book and writing letters to Ron and Hermione telling of the day's happenings.  
  
It was evening before he knew it. Glancing up from his book and at the clock, he was surprised to see that it shone 10:12, which meant he had been reading for about 3 hours straight. He sighed, if he was to get up early to go to karate with Dudley, he had better get some sleep. He shut the book, lay back in his bed, and flicked off the lamp. He quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry woke up to Vernon's pounding on his door.  
  
"You ungrateful wretch! You slept in again! Now get down here and make my breakfast!" A few seconds later Harry could hear Vernon stomping loudly down the stairs.  
  
Harry glanced at the clock, an action he seemed to be performing a lot lately, which showed 7:00. Harry groaned and rolled out of bed, landing with a thud on the ground. Five minutes later, finally able to wake up, Harry walked heavily down the stairs.  
  
"What do you want today?" He asked tiredly as he walked into the kitchen.  
  
"Bacon and eggs. And hurry it up, you leave in 15 minutes." Vernon replied without looking up from his morning paper.  
  
Harry sighed and got out the ingredients. Within 10 minutes the eggs were done and Harry quickly started on the bacon. Petunia came down with Dudley and both started eating. As soon as Harry finished the bacon however, Petunia had gotten ready and Harry was forced to go without any breakfast at all.  
  
Before they left, Vernon pulled Harry off to the side.  
  
"I don't want to hear about any funny business, if you screw up Dudley's chance to be in this class, I will personally see your life become living hell!"  
  
And that would change what? Harry thought sarcastically while nodding to Vernon.  
  
Twenty minutes later Harry walked into a small whitewashed building behind Petunia, who was ushering Dudley in front of her. A tall lanky man met them in the front entrance.  
  
"Ah, Mrs. Dursley!" He looked at Petunia, then at Dudley, smiling, "And young Mr. Dursley. Nice to see you again!" Although he said all this smiling, Harry the notion that he was grimacing on the inside. Harry already liked him. He wondered what had happened on the first day. However, his thoughts were interrupted when the man turned his gaze on Harry.  
  
"Who is this? A new student?" He asked Petunia.  
  
"Oh no! I wasn't able to leave him at home, so if you could find some. secluded room for him, I'm sure he'll stay quiet and out of the way." She said pointedly, staring straight at Harry.  
  
The man looked surprised, "Well, I'm sure he'll be able to sit in on the session," Noticing Petunia's look, he quickly added, "Don't worry now, he won't be in the way and you don't have to pay anything! I can always have some extra help! Now I think we have everything sorted out, and I'm sure you must have so much important things to do so I can take it from here." He smiled charmingly at her, then motioned Harry and Dudley toward a large room.  
  
The man soon entered the room behind them. He smiled at the two of them.  
  
"Now, as you know Dudley, my name is Paul Psidong, but please just call me Paul, I can't stand being called Master Psidong. I am the martial arts teacher here, the main course is karate, then we go on to more advanced forms of martial arts. But for now all you need to know is karate." He glanced at Harry, "I didn't catch your name by the way."  
  
"Oh, I'm Harry." He answered.  
  
Paul clapped his hands together, "Ok Harry, I'm sure the other students are waiting to start so if you'll please enter the room." He gestured towards a door in the far wall. Dudley stomped over to it, a nasty look on his face, and Harry followed, Paul close behind him. The room they entered was larger than the first and had a thick blue mat covering the floor. About 15 students were already in the room. Most scattered around in little groups talking animatedly. Paul clapped sharply twice and the room fell silent as everyone glanced toward the door.  
  
Paul smiled, "Everyone, I'm terribly sorry for being late, I was delayed a bit." He motioned for Dudley to go join his classmates, he then put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "This is Harry, he will be sitting in on our sessions for the rest of the month. Now I've got to go do something quick but it won't take more than ten minutes, so please make Harry will feel welcome and I will be back shortly." He smiled. "And feel free to practice what I taught you yesterday."  
  
He took one quick glance around the room, then walked out the door. Harry noticed that most of the students were merely looking at him, so he nodded to them. They may not be staring at him because of his scar, but he was used to people staring at him all the same. Dudley sauntered over to him (an odd looking feat that made it look like he was waddling) and sneered, reminding Harry horribly like Draco Malfoy.  
  
"Well, Harry it looks like I have the advantage here, I already know a days worth of things and you know nothing!"  
  
Harry looked at him like he was stupid, then whispered, "Actually, I think I have the advantage. You see, last year I learned some wandless ma- well, you-know-what," He lied with a smile, "Vernon and Petunia aren't here to save you."  
  
Dudley became pale, "You wouldn't! Not with so many people around!" He paused, "Right?"  
  
Harry grinned, liking how this was going, "Oh that's not a problem, one of those spells was a memory charm, they wouldn't remember a thing and would think you were a blubbering fool. Anyway, I don't think I would need to," He gave Dudley a disgusted look, "I just can't imagine you doing a high- kick."  
  
Harry heard a snicker from behind him. He whirled around. There stood another boy with red hair and freckles that reminded him of Ron. His eyes, however, were a brilliant blue that sparkled with laughter.  
  
"I couldn't help overhearing that last part, and I must agree with you." The boy said, glancing at Dudley.  
  
Harry almost started panicking, not sure if the boy had heard any mention of charms or spells. He then realized that if the boy heard anything, he would probably think that he had heard Harry wrong and would embarrass himself by mentioning magic.  
  
Harry smiled as Dudley, outmatched, walked (or should I say waddled) across the room to a small group people in the far corner who greeted him, throwing sullen glares over towards Harry.  
  
Harry then turned to the boy, who stuck out his hand.  
  
"I'm Danny Walker."  
  
Harry took the hand, introducing himself, "Harry Potter."  
  
Danny grinned, "C'mon, you can meet some of my friends." He motioned Harry over to a corner where a group of four, all about his age, were watching them. Danny led Harry over to them.  
  
As Danny introduced him, Harry looked around the group of 2 girls and 3 boys (including Danny). As Danny said his full name, he noticed a black girl frown with a confused, thoughtful look on her face. Harry then shifted his attention back to Danny who started introducing the group.  
  
"This is Rhea La Paz," He pointed to the other girl, who had pale blond hair, fair skin and deep brown eyes. She greeted him with a light French accent as Harry shook her hand. Danny then pointed to a boy with sandy brown hair and eyes to match. "That's Simon Calhoun, call him a hound and prepare to suffer the consequences." Although he said it seriously, the effect was ruined by a grin. Simon reached forward and shook his hand.  
  
"Pleased to meet you." He smiled, which Harry returned.  
  
The next person to be presented was a boy with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. "I'm Ryan Shultz." He said, introducing himself before Danny got a chance to. Harry smiled and shook his hand. He was a little unused to all this, in his last muggle school, everyone who had become this nice towards him was chased off by Dudley's gang, and in the magical world, everyone knew him so introductions were not needed.  
  
The last person in the small group was the black girl who had looked confused at his name; she had black hair that rivaled Harry's in darkness and deep, dark brown eyes. "This is Alyssa Thomas." Danny told him.  
  
Harry looked at Danny sharply, then at Alyssa. "Thomas?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
Alyssa answered, "Yes that's my name. Why do you ask?" It was her turn to sound suspicious.  
  
Harry studied her for a minute, then, against his better judgement, asked the next question tentatively, "Do you happen to be related to a Dean Thomas?"  
  
Alyssa looked surprised, "Ah- yes, he's my twin brother. How do you know him?"  
  
Harry hesitated before answering, if he told them, at least Alyssa would know that he was a wizard, but he answered all the same, "I go to the same school as him, he's actually in the same year- well grade as me."  
  
Alyssa looked completely astonished, then a look of total understanding overcame her, "Oh!" she paused, "Oh yeah, now I know why your name sounded familiar! He did mention you a couple of times."  
  
Harry was about to answer when Simon interrupted.  
  
"Yeah, this is all nice and peachy, but Paul's back."  
  
Sure enough, at that moment, two sharp claps came from the doorway and everyone looked up again. "Alright, now that you've gotten all the talking out of your system, it's time to get down to business." He glanced over at Harry, "Harry, if you want to join us feel free to, but for now just sit off to the side as we get started all right?" Harry complied as Paul resumed talking to the rest of the class, "Please take off your shoes before stepping onto the mat." Everyone did, then waited for more instructions.  
  
(A/N author has sudden image of Dudley taking off his shoes. *faints*)  
  
"Now, we will start with a simple block. This is one of the ways to block the punch I taught you yesterday. The first thing you need to focus on is your stance, a block will never work if, as soon as the opponent makes contact, you fall over."  
  
The lesson continued in that manner for about an hour with Harry, as well as the other students listening intently, until Harry finally decided to join them. When the students were practicing, Harry approached Paul.  
  
"Er- Mr.- I mean Paul, would it be okay if I joined?" He asked tentatively.  
  
Paul smiled, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to ask that." He called across the room then.  
  
"Simon, come over here!"  
  
Simon looked up from where he was pretending to do a move where he was standing on one leg, both hands in praying mantis form above his head. He looked surprised and genuinely guilty. He quickly dashed across the matted room.  
  
"I'm sorry for goofing off!" He blurted out, breathless.  
  
Paul chuckled, "Nonsense, I merely want you to show Harry here what you have learned so far."  
  
Simon looked excited and grinned. Putting his hands together, looking like he was about to pray, but bowed instead towards Paul. "As you wish Mesa Psidong." He grinned, then grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him over to where Danny and Ryan were practicing the punch block move with Danny on the defensive.  
  
Danny turned with a grin towards Harry, allowing Ryan to punch him in the shoulder, though not very hard. After a short glare at Ryan, he spoke to Harry.  
  
"So you're an official Falcon now?"  
  
Harry looked extremely confused, "Umm, what do you mean, Falcon?"  
  
"He didn't tell you? Well, the first day, Paul sorted us into groups; it was easy since there were exactly 15 of us. 3 groups of 5. There's us, we're the Falcons. The group over there," He pointed to one of the far corner, "is the Eagles, and the group Dudley is in is the Hawks-" Danny was then interrupted as Simon asked Harry a question.  
  
"Are you really related to Dursley?"  
  
By the way the others looked at him, Harry could tell this had been speculated on several times since he arrived this morning with Dudley.  
  
Harry nodded, "Unfortunately. I'm his cousin."  
  
Rhea looked over at Dudley, then back at Harry and spoke in her French accent, "You look nothing like him." The other nodded in agreement. Rhea smiled shyly, "You are much cuter." This time only Alyssa agreed with her, the other boys looked around the room.  
  
Harry was surprised and blushed furiously, but was saved from further embarrassment when Paul came over.  
  
"Come on now, start practicing, we'll get Harry initiated later." He smiled at them all, then went over to the eagles to stop a verbal fight of wits between a small boy and girl who looked ready to strangle each other.  
  
The rest of the day went by very quickly, too quickly for Harry. He was soon waving goodbye to Danny, Simon, Ryan, Alyssa, and Rhea as they each left in their respected vehicles. On the way home, Dudley began to complain about Harry's new friends and harry participating in class, but when Harry glared at him and waved an imaginary wand in his direction, Dudley fell silent.  
  
"What was that Duddy-kinns?" Petunia said in a sugary voice.  
  
"Uh- I was just saying how much I loved karate," Dudley mumbled.  
  
"Oh! That's wonderful! I'll make sure you get a place in next year's class!" At this Dudley sent a look of pure contempt at Harry.  
  
When they got home, Vernon immediately put Harry to work.  
  
"Slacker," He mumbled while writing a list about a foot long of things for Harry to do. "Didn't do a thing yesterday."  
  
That night Harry exhaustedly climbed into bed. He glanced at his nightstand, where the Luna Opacus was sitting placidly. It still had the red core and the orange tinged ring around that, but when Harry looked closer, he could see the fog was now a faded sky blue. Harry smiled. It looked like he now had true friends in the muggle world as well as in the magical world. Harry drifted off to sleep that night with a smile on his face.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
If a passing observer had looked upon Privet Drive at midnight that night, he would have seen an odd sight indeed of a large black dog, staring straight up at a window of #4 Privet Drive where a light had just been flicked off. Fortunately there was no passerby, the street was as deserted as a cemetery.  
  
After about an hour, sure that no one was up, the dog stood up and looked around. There was no one on the street. With a small nod, the dog disappeared with a pop and in it's place stood a tall, skinny man in worn black robes. With a wave of his wand, a large glowing half-orb appeared with 4 Privet Drive smack in the middle.  
  
The man walked around the perimeter of the base of the circle, every few feet waving his wand and muttering a few well-chosen words, watching as the shield strengthened. Once he had finished the circuit, he walked back to the street in front of that one window and stared up at it. He grinned and gave a mock salute.  
  
"'Till we meet again." And at that, there was a small pop and a large black dog appeared where the man had been standing. The dog gave a short bark, then loped off down the street.  
  
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(A/N: Ok, something I forgot to say in the top a/n is that this chapter is dedicated to my algebra teacher, Mr. Berger. The Carpenter's Triangle is also dedicated to him. He was a little miffed about there not being a plane or space shape in the story when I told him what I was typing in class (god I love my alphasmart) and I told him I would put in a plane shape somewhere, then when I was stuck on that one part I just put it in (. I would like to thank all of my readers and especially to my best friend and beta reader Someone2! Thanks to all those who did review my last chapter even though it took so long to upload. I think I'll do review thanks now:  
  
Snowlily- Thanks for the enthusiastic reviews! And yes I do accept attachments on my emails, just get those pics to me ok? ;) Especially the dragon ones!  
  
Raven of Death- lol, thanks a lot for the review, I'm glad you like Someone2's stories too, they are mostly hers, I post most of mine under Phalanx, but thanks for the input (p.s. I totally love your name!)  
  
Someone2- You were disappointed? I am hurt! Lol, anyway, I hope you still like this story even though you have already read it. *hint hint* lol, I'm just kidding, you had better get working on your stories though! Especially Concealed!  
  
Summersun- Thanks for the review, and I do plan to keep going, as long as I continue getting reviews!  
  
Again, I want to thank all who read my story and reviewed my story. I sincerely hope you like this chapter, and that you didn't think it was too boring. I tried to make it longer! This chapter alone is over 6,000 words. that's definitely the longest chapter I've had yet. ~Phalanx) 


	6. Godric's Hollow

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic  
  
Chapter 5- Godric's Hollow  
  
(A/N: ok, this is chapter 5. I haven't been writing for a bit, that's why this took so long to come out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. I want to thank Snowlily for the Idea even though I don't think it will show in this chapter! R/R! ~Phalanx)  
  
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Harry stared out the window of his small room into the darkness of the night. He could see the quarter moon hanging low in the sky, but most of the stars were faded due to the many lights. Harry sighed, his brow creased as he frowned with worry. He looked over at Hedwig who was sleeping in her cage, he head tucked beneath her wing.  
  
"Hedwig." Harry said in a loud whisper.  
  
Hedwig's head swiveled as she looked at Harry with disdain for waking her up. She hooted as it to say 'What do you want now?'  
  
Harry smiled lightly, "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up, I just thought you might want to go hunt. I don't have much to give you. I'm on pretty strict rations myself." Hedwig stared at him for a minute, then hooted appreciatively and stared pointedly at the closed cage door.  
  
Harry stood up and silently walked across the room. He opened the door to the cage, then held out his arm for Hedwig to perch on, which she did, stretching her wings gratefully. Harry winced as she dug in her talons to keep her balance when he walked back across to the window. Hedwig hooted and nipped his ear lightly as if to say 'Sorry!' then launched out the window, gliding gracefully along the ground, then pulling up into the dark night air.  
  
Harry watched her until she disappeared, then sighed and continued to scan the sky for an owl other than Hedwig. Harry had sent Ron an owl about a week ago, the day after his first karate lesson, and he had yet to get one back. Hedwig had come back later than usual, with now answer, and looked very worn out, as though she had flown a lot longer than just to Ottery St. Catchpole and back. Harry sighed, he admitted he was worried about Ron. Then again, if something had happened to his best friend, someone would have told him. right? What if they had just forgotten about him?  
  
Harry shook his head, banishing the thought and looked back into the sky. He half stood up, eyes wide with hope. There, just above the house across the street, Harry could see an owl skimming the roof. He watched it's progress, and let out a sigh of disappointment. It wasn't headed for #4, instead it swooped through the window of a plain house just down the street. With a frown, Harry realized that was the house of Mrs. Figg, Harry's old babysitter.  
  
What was Mrs. Figg doing getting an owl? Did she have some relatives who were connected with the wizarding world? Harry's thoughts were broken off as movement caught his eye. Another owl was swooping its way toward him. Harry grinned, sure this one was for him.  
  
He stepped aside to let the large Great Horned Owl fly through his window and onto his bed, where it stared expectantly at him.  
  
"Who are you?" Harry asked the owl, wouldn't Ron have used Pig? Harry shrugged and compliantly took the letter from the owl. The owl, with a regal air, ruffled its feathers and took off out the window. Harry smiled and opened the letter.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
How are you doing? I'm doing fine, great actually. I hope you weren't too worried when I didn't reply right away. I was pretty busy and I didn't think it was fair to keep Hedwig here any longer than I had to. Anyway, if you're wondering where I am, I am in Ireland. I know it's not that far, but it's awesome here. There are a lot of castles, some which could rival Hogwarts! I sent a couple of pictures, but I'm not sure if that owl is trustworthy. It's glaring at me right now. Anyway, I don't think you should send Hedwig until I get back, she looked a bit winded when she got here. I should back about a week before school starts so about the 25th. Do you think you will be able to get to Diagon Alley on the 27th? Hermione owled me and asked if I could go and I told her I would ask you. It's all right with my folk and if you can't get a ride, I'm sure mum will arrange something to come get you. Well, if you want, you can send an owl to the Burrow and we'll get it when we get back.  
  
I'm glad you found something to do there since you couldn't come with us. That class sounds fun and I wish I could meet Danny and Simon, they sound like fun. And are you sure Alyssa is Dean's sister? There have to be a lot of Thomas's out there. Anyway, I gotta end this, that owl is starting to freak me out. I'll see you on Sep. 1st at the latest.  
  
1 Ron  
  
Harry grinned and glanced at the calendar. It was the 9th already. Surprisingly, Harry was no longer counting down the days till September first. Sure his chores were horrible, and he couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts, but with Karate lessons every morning, the summers were definitely more tolerable at least.  
  
It sounds like the Weasleys are having fun. Harry smiled and grabbed the envelope off the bed. Sure enough, there was a small bunch of wizard pictures still in it. He flipped through them, most showing the Weasleys grinning and waving at the camera with a large castle behind them. One, however, caught his attention more than the others. Like the others, it showed the Weasleys, but behind them was not a castle, but a large mansion. It struck Harry's interest, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before. He shook his head and slipped the pictures back into the envelope, thoughts whirling in his mind. He grinned as he slipped under the covers and flicked off the light. Now that he knew what was up with Ron, he could sleep easy. Or so he thought.  
  
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Harry's feet slammed into the ground. When he had recovered from the shock, he looked around. He was at the same place as the last dream. The ivy-covered mansion, the same mansion that he had met Voldemort in. This time, he was going to find out exactly where he was. He could see a wide gravel road leading into the forest. Assuming this lead toward the street, Harry walked that way. About 5 minutes later, he came out onto an even larger gravel road.  
  
Is anything paved around here? Harry though, even as he thought this he knew he liked the ruggedness of it all. He glanced at the large stone arch at the mouth of the first gravel road. In large script, it read: Godric's Hollow. (A/N: honestly, what were you expecting?)  
  
Harry searched his mind for anything on a Godric's Hollow, but came up with nothing. He remembered the last time he was here, in his last nightmare. There had been the scorched paper that Voldemort had crumpled, but was there anything else? Anything that Voldemort hadn't found that would give him a clue as to what had happened there?  
  
Harry started back up the path to the mansion. As he walked, a new thought struck him. What had Voldemort been doing there anyway? Was this his new hideout? Or was he looking for something on a suspicious new Death Eater perhaps? Maybe it had something to do with him. Harry frowned, if it might have something to do with him, it was just more of a reason to search it.  
  
At the tail end of this thought, he came out into the open area of Godric's Hollow. With determination on his face, he strode purposefully towards the door of the mansion. He had expected to feel pain in his scar, but it stayed dormant. Good, Harry thought, No Voldie this time. Harry grinned and stepped up onto the porch of the mansion. He raised his hand to knock, then stopped and berated himself as he opened the door.  
  
Do you think Voldemort knocked last time? Anyway, this is a dream; you can just walk right in. And Harry did just that. He tentatively stepped through the door and glanced about the front entrance. There was a coat tree in one corner, as well as a closet with mats on the floor for shoes. Though, for some reason, Harry decided to keep his shoes on.  
  
He smiled and walked through the glass doors and into a large room. His smile vanished. Everything was scorched at least, there were ashes all over the place and a think layer of dust on everything. Harry walked across the room, broken glass crunching beneath his feet. He walked over to where a burnt picture hung on the wall, he could barely make out two human beings in the picture, though he could not tell who they were. The only thing he could see was a patch of red. Harry shook his head and looked down at an end table, there was a glass vase on it, though there was nothing in it, and below that was some sort of paper, again, scorched. He picked it up lightly. The black parts immediately falling off in flakes. He squinted at what was rest of it. It was in obviously a woman's handwriting. He couldn't tell what it said however. Frustrated, he set it back down on the end table and glanced around the room.  
  
He walked across the room to a pair of open doors and walked into a fancy kitchen. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, while spiderwebs hung from that. He frowned, and knew there was nothing to be found in that room. So he walked straight across and into the next room. It was a hallway with many doors of both sides. Bedrooms perhaps? Harry thought as he walked down it, he opened the first door that he came to, on the left side and walked into a giant dining room. The fire had not reached this one. He looked around the room and there was only one thing that caught his eye. A picture frame on a coffee table straight across the room. He walked toward it, barely daring to believe what he saw. As he reached it, the muggle picture straight in front of him. A lone tear fell from his eye. He picked up the picture, looking at the pair of people in the picture, both smiling. There, right inside that picture, were his parents, James and Lily Potter.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harry sat straight up in bed. His parents. Godric's Hollow must have been where he had lived that first year of his life. He fumbled for his glasses, then when they were safely resting on his face, he flicked on the light. He grabbed the envelope Ron had sent him where it lay on the table next to his bed. He took out the pictures, flipping through them until he found the one of the mansion. He dropped all the others onto his bed, staring at the one he was still holding. It was the same mansion. The mansion that was in his dreams. Godric's Hollow, in Ireland? He would have to ask Ron what he had found out about it. What the wizard tour guide had said about it. Had they told them it was where his parents had lived?  
  
No, Harry thought, Ron would have mentioned something. Plus I suppose that's not the sort of thing they would tell people. Or was it? How am I to know? It's not like I've been on a wizard tour lately, or any tour for that matter. Harry shook his head. There was nothing he could do tonight, he would have to wait until he got back to school. Or maybe he could owl Sirius about it, certainly he would have to know where they had lived. But Wormtail was the Secret Keeper.  
  
Harry sighed in confusion. He was right the first time. He would have to wait, there was nothing he could do at. He glanced at the clock. 3:30 in the morning.  
  
"Well, at least it wasn't a nightmare this time." Harry said, then put all the pictures back into the envelope, as well as his glasses. He slowly fell back to sleep.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning, Harry awoke at 6:00, as was his routine. He stretched and yawned, then reached over and put on his glasses. The world came into focus. Harry smiled and got dressed. Hedwig had come back sometime between the dream, and morning. His smile faltered as he thought of the dream. Was it possible? That he now knew where his parents had lived? Harry shook his head, he would worry about that after breakfast and karate class. Harry went downstairs quietly, so as not to wake Vernon and Petunia. He had just noticed sometime in the last week that he had stopped calling his relatives Aunt and Uncle. There were just Petunia and Vernon now. Harry couldn't remember when exactly he had stopped, but it didn't seem to matter.  
  
Harry went to the fridge, got out an orange, and went out onto the porch to eat his breakfast in the morning quiet before the Dursleys woke. He sat on the top step and began peeling his orange.  
  
He looked out at the front yard of his summer residence. The grass was getting long, mowing it would most likely be one of his chores after karate later today. Harry sighed, Great, another date with a lawn mower in the middle of a hot summer day. Harry shook his head and gathered up the orange peelings before going back inside. He immediately began cooking the bacon. After so many years cooking for the Dursleys, Harry actually began to enjoy the art of cooking. Plus, he was getting good at it.  
  
Harry grinned, he loved having the kitchen to himself. It was a chance to experiment with several different things. Of course, he wouldn't tell the Dursleys that he was experimenting. If he did, he would never know whether it worked or not. Harry chuckled to himself, glancing at the large pile of all ready made bacon, surprised Dudley hadn't come down to the smell of food yet.  
  
However, he wasn't kept waiting too long, about 3 seconds after that trail of thought ended, a large thudding on the stairs announced Dudley's arrival. Harry smiled to himself. Right on time, as always. He turned with the bacon and set it on the table just in time to keep Dudley from knocking it over in his haste for food. Harry watched Dudley with disgust for a minute, then turned and began making his version of French toast (he had taught himself after all) for Vernon and Petunia, who Harry could hear were just waking up.  
  
Probably shook awake by what Dudley calls walking. Harry snorted.  
  
About ten minutes later, Harry was being yelled at for keeping Petunia and Dudley waiting. Harry sighed and walked downstairs after changing into a pair of sweat pants and a sleeveless shirt that almost fit him. Petunia and Dudley had already gotten into the car, and when Harry jogged out the door, she revved the engine as though threatening to leave without him. Harry sighed and hurriedly got into the car. They drove to the martial arts building in silence, which was only broken once by a very loud fart emitted from Dudley, forcing Harry to stick his head out the window for half the drive. Even Petunia was looking a bit pale.  
  
That and due to the fact that he had had no chance to run a comb through his hair made him look very disheveled when he finally walked through the door to the whitewashed building. Harry smiled as he entered. It had become like a second home to him (Hogwarts being the first of course).  
  
When he finally walked into the room where the karate lessons took place, Dudley trudging slowly a long ways behind him, 5 different voices called out to him. He grin at his friends and ran across the room towards them. Simon did a double take when Harry finally reached them.  
  
"Woah! Get into a little fight with the hairdryer this morning?" He exclaimed, only half-joking.  
  
Harry grinned, "Nah, Tubby over there," He jerked his thumb at Dudley, who was now entering the room, "let one on the way here, I had to breath somehow."  
  
The group fought back laughter at the thought, but Paul, who had just entered, interrupted their mirth. His voice resounding in the room.  
  
"Well, I do believe everyone is here, so on to business. We will be having a non-practical lesson today. So far you know several punches, kicks, medleys of the two, and of course, blocks, but you have yet to learn when and where to use this knowledge, this ability. Now I don't want you all to go out and start beating up the first person you see just because you can. Now, can anyone tell me when a good time to use karate is?"  
  
There was a slight pause, then Simon raised his hand.  
  
"Yes, Simon?"  
  
"When you can't back out of a fight."  
  
"Can you give us an example?"  
  
Simon paused thoughtfully, then replied "Basically when you are cornered. Say you are walking down a street and a gang chases you into an alley and there's no way out beside through the gang. I'd say that's just about as perfect a time as any to use it."  
  
"Very good Simon, but all of you should note one specific thing he said in there. Only when there is no way out. Only use this ability when you are trapped or cornered. Does anyone else have one?"  
  
There was a longer pause than last time. Then Harry raised his hand.  
  
"Ah, another Falcon. Go ahead Mr. Potter."  
  
Thoughtfully, Harry answered. "Well, wouldn't it be ok if both participants agreed to have sort of a duel?"  
  
Paul smiled, "Yes, that is another one, if both sides agree to face off, or duel, and it is not going against any rules, and yes that includes school rules, it would be all right I suppose. Now that one is used usually for adults. I don't want anyone manipulating people with less talent than you. Can anyone think of another?"  
  
There was no answer, to which Paul nodded. "Don't worry, I wasn't sure if I would get another one. There are two more that I can think of. One, only use karate when it is for a good purpose or to save someone else. And two, In this class I suppose it would be all right to use karate." Paul grinned and clapped his hands together. "Well, now that that part is over, I would like for you all to practice what we have learned so far in your respective groups."  
  
With that, the falcons drifted off to a corner. Harry overheard Dudley as the passed by the Hawks.  
  
"I know what I'm going to use my talent for," Dudley was saying, "I'm going to use it on my cousin. He won't have a chance."  
  
Harry snorted and kept going. If it ever comes to that, maybe I'll finally be able to fight back. Harry smiled and turned to Simon.  
  
"C'mon, let duel, right now!" He said, still grinning.  
  
Simon began bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, "Bring it on."  
  
The rest of the lesson went fairly fast. Paul came back and showed them a new kick, with which Greg Myers, an Eagle, got one of his teeth knocked out before he could block it. All too soon, Harry was walking out the door right behind Dudley to Petunia's car.  
  
When they got home, Harry was immediately put to work. As he suspected, one of his chores was to mow the lawn, right after he was to weed the garden and trim the hedges. When he had finished the first two, he came back inside to get a drink of water, sweat practically pouring from his brow. He was then sent out to mow the front lawn. After he had finished, he paused, the mower still running, by the outer hedge to wipe his brow.  
  
"You missed a spot." He heard someone yell over the sound of the mower. Harry turned, surprised. There stood Ryan Shultz, standing beside his bike, watching him with a grin. Harry stared for a minute, until Ryan pointed behind him, "You might wanna grab that."  
  
Harry turned, perplexed, and saw his lawn mower flying across the yard towards the garden. Harry cursed and ran after it. He caught up to hit halfway through the garden, totally ruining the cherry-tomato plants. He winced, "Maybe they won't notice." He turned off the mower and walked back across to Ryan. Who muttered an apology when Harry had reached him.  
  
Harry shook his head, "Don't worry about it, They won't realize it for a couple of days."  
  
Ryan looked skeptical, "They won't notice a new path straight through the middle of their garden?"  
  
Harry smirked, "The Dursleys have a tendency not to notice anything out of the ordinary."  
  
Ryan shrugged, then grinned, "I didn't know you lived so close. I live just around the corner." He pointed to the far corner of Privet Drive. "Maybe you could come over sometime."  
  
Harry shook his head, "I doubt the Dursley's would let me."  
  
Just then, from behind him, he heard Dudley's whiney voice. "Daddy, Harry's taking a break!"  
  
Harry turned around just as the door slammed open and Vernon glared out at him.  
  
"Boy! Get back to work!" He then looked at Ryan, who was doing his best to look like an innocent passerby.  
  
Vernon growled at him, "Get off my property!"  
  
Ryan's eyes widened, and he looked at Harry, who nodded.  
  
"You'd better get outta here." Harry said.  
  
Ryan nodded and quickly sped away down the street. Vernon walked across the lawn, eyes blazing at Harry. When he reached him, Vernon backhanded the boy, causing Harry to fall to the ground and stare up at Vernon in surprise. No matter how bad the Dursleys had treated him, they had never hit him before.  
  
"If I ever see you taking a break from your work, just to talk to someone, I will give you more than a bruise and a sore bottom." Vernon growled then stalked back towards the house, slamming the door behind him. Harry raised a shaking hand to the bruise forming on his right cheek. He shook his head and got up, dusting the grass clippings off his pants.  
  
He went and got the lawn mower, putting it back into the garden shed. He then went into the house, careful to avoid Vernon who was in the living room watching TV, and went into his room. He snatched up a mirror and looked at the bruise, it was starting to sting now and it had turned a nasty purple color.  
  
Harry sighed and placed the mirror back. He sat on his bed. What had made Vernon think to hit him? He had never done it before and he had done plenty worse than that before. Harry shook his head, he could hear Vernon and Petunia arguing in the kitchen.  
  
"You hit him?" Petunia said incredulously, "What if his godfather comes! You know we can't take on one of them."  
  
"There is no Godfather!" Vernon growled back, "If there was, don't you think he would have done something. Anyway, even if there was, do you think he would come here? We could easily give him to the police."  
  
There was a pause, "Are you sure?"  
  
"Absolutely," Vernon replied.  
  
"Well then, I give you my full support, the little bastard taking a break off of his duty just to talk to someone! How dare he. I say we give him double work tomorrow."  
  
Harry sank back against his bed, Great, not they're both against me. This could be the worst summer by far if this goes any farther.  
  
Harry sighed, he would worry about it later. He spent the rest of the night reading Animagi: All you need to know! It was a very interesting book by far.  
  
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If Harry had known what would happen just because of that one break, he would have done anything to go back in time and stop himself from doing it.  
  
It seemed as though that one time Vernon had hit Harry had giving him the proof he had needed that he could do anything and get away with it. With in the next week or so, Vernon had escalated from smacking Harry, to full out punching. He had even once whipped him with a belt when Dudley had said Harry was threatening him. Harry had been taking more days off from karate, the last thing he needed was his friends seeing him like that.  
  
Now you may wonder why Harry had not told someone. Say Sirius for example. Well, Harry is a very selfless person. He doesn't really care what happens to him, He is just worried about Sirius. He knows that if the Dursleys see one bit of Sirius Black here, they will automatically call the hotline. So Harry had replied to Sirius's last letter saying the Dursleys were no worse than usual and that he shouldn't worry so much.  
  
So now you know.  
  
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(A/N: Hope you liked that, not sure what that was at the end, it was just some stuff you needed to know. Thanks to all who reviewed. Sorry it took so long, it actually didn't take as long as some of my other chapters. but oh well, I'll stop blabbing and do some thank you's:  
  
Someone2: Thank you as always, but no, you can not be dissapointed again. Well, at least not for this one, I know for a fact that you have not read a single bit of this chapter so HA. *deep breath* Ok, I'm cool. Anyways, hope you like it!  
  
Ajake: I'm glad you liked it, I'll try to make it interesting when the new char comes in. Rest assured that the entire story is not about her, it is totally focused on Harry, she just happens to be another char.  
  
Magicgirl4eva: Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you liked it and I hope I answered your question well enough!  
  
Snowlily: You know, I think you are actually the first person to call me a fantastic author. As much as I disagree with you, I'm glad you like my writing. I hope this chapter came out as fast as you liked. Also, that idea you gave me will more than likely not come into play until at least next chapter, maybe later. But thanks anyway!  
  
Raven of Death: I'm happy you liked it, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last one!  
  
Bon: Thanks for reviewing, glad you liked the little part about Dean's twin.  
  
  
  
Again I want to thank you all for reviewing, and all those who didn't review, just know that I don't care if it is a flame, just as long as it is constructive. Don't go on saying 'I hate it'. If you don't like it, tell me why. Please enjoy this chapter! Oh, I may not be able to get the next chapter out as soon as I like. I just got back to school today, so I may not have as much time to write as I did with this and the last chapters. ~Phalanx) 


	7. Professor Snape?

Harry Potter and the Dragon of Magic  
  
Chapter 6- Professor Snape?  
  
(A/N: Hey, Chapter 6 finally, Sorry for the long wait, I was at a bit of a writers block, I knew what to say, but didn't know how to say it. Anyway, I just watched The Lord of the Rings twice and I'm sorry if it affects anything in my story such as dialog, adventures, etc. So I will apologize before hand. Now, sorry for boring you with this long Authors note (though I've read longer) and I'll just get on with the story. Just so you know, I'm obsessed with reviews… not sure why, I just love reading them, so please humor me and send me one!)  
  
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Professor Severus Snape, potions master at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, grumbled as he slowly maneuvered the station wagon rented from the ministry down the crowded London street. As to why Dumbledore insisted on this form of transportation he did not know. Snape growled in frustration as the engine died for about the 20th time since he started. The cars behind him blared their horns as he tried to start it. When he finally got it started, he slammed on the gas pedal and the car jerked forward, to which he slammed on the brakes in panic without touching the clutch, making the engine die again.  
  
"BLOODY HELL!" he yelled and slammed his fists against the wheel, causing it to honk loudly, and he jumped back in surprise. After about another half an hour of this, he had finally pulled into the parking lot of the building he was sent to.  
  
He parked the car, one wheel up on the curb. Snape wisely decided to not fix it and risk getting a ticket, not that he would pay it anyway. He climbed out of the car, his usual gracefulness totally gone in the unfamiliar muggle contraption. He slammed the door and glared at the station wagon with contempt, furiously trying to straighten the muggle clothing he was forced to wear. When he gave up, he walked toward the large door with large smooth strides, intent on finishing this job as quickly as possible. In the main lobby of the squat building, he looked around.  
  
He quickly walked up to the bored looking secretary in the corner office. As he approached, she looked up; she had shoulder-length dirty blond hair and wide hazel eyes, which scanned his body appreciatively. He gave her his most practiced sneer and asked her a question curtly. She chewed her gum once, then pointed towards a door in the far wall.  
  
"Go through that door, then another directly opposite of it. He has a class so please knock." She said lazily, then looked back to the computer and continued typing.  
  
Snape whirled around without a word and went through the first door, which led to a large room. From there he could see the other door, a white door with a gold handle. He walked up to it and knocked sharply. There was a couple minutes wait, and the door swung open to expose the last person he ever expected to see.  
  
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Harry woke up to a splitting headache, now if it had been any other situation, he would have been worried, thinking his scar was the cause of it. However, he knew what had happened the day before, Vernon had struck him, not as hard as he usually did, on his left cheek, giving him a large bruise. He had backed into the wall, which of course, had given him the headache he had at the moment. Harry flung the sheets away from him and sat up on the bed, fortunately, the beatings had died down a bit and he could sit up and walk without flinching, the headache was his only problem. The bruise on his cheek could be explained away, limping could not.  
  
Which, of course, meant that he would be able to go to Karate today, he had done a lot of catching up and he would have to do even more today. Even with all of that, he was willing to go. He had missed about 3 days in the last week, and he wanted to learn more. This was one of the only things he was good at aside from Quidditch; he could even beat Simon, who was the top of the class (Harry isn't technically in the class, so he can't be scored). He glanced at the clock, which shone 5:45.  
  
He shut his eyes for a minute before standing up and getting dressed, he walked tiredly down the stairs and into the kitchen. He had an hour and a half before he had to leave for karate. This gave him plenty of time to make breakfast for his aunt, uncle, and cousin and eat his own breakfast.  
  
Thirty minutes later, the pounding on the steps could be heard as Vernon stomped down the stairs, his wife and son behind him. He growled at Harry as the other two sat down to eat.  
  
"Boy, The realtor is coming by this afternoon to see how much the house is worth. Plus, Dudley isn't feeling good," Harry looked over at Dudley who was healthily, if you could call it that, scarfing down his breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon strips. "So you will be going to Karate alone. I personally don't think Petunia should bother to take you in," insert evil glare, "But we decided it's best to keep you out of the house."  
  
Harry just nodded, he found that if he talked at all, he would either get in more trouble or get hit, although lately, Vernon had only hit him when he did something really bad.  
  
Vernon's beady eyes narrowed once more before he turned and began eating.  
  
Another half-hour later Harry and Petunia were on their way to the now familiar karate building. Harry couldn't wait to be there, if nothing else, to get away from the stench of Petunia's ten different perfumes. However, he was also apprehensive as to what the other karate students, or Paul for that matter, would say about the bruise on his cheek that had not gone down in the least. Harry had come up with an excuse, a not very good one at that, about tripping and hitting his head on the doorframe. As the family car pulled up to the martial arts building, Harry nodded once to Petunia, and hopped out, dashing to the entrance of the whitewashed building. As he entered the building, he heard the screech of tires as Petunia pulled out of the parking lot.  
  
Paul greeted him on the inside of the building with a grin and, thankfully, no question about the bruise on his cheek, although Harry saw his eyes flick to it and a concerned look come over his face. He ushered Harry into the karate room, saying he was the last one and he's glad he could make it today. Simon was the first to see him and called out to him, he ran across the room and joined the falcon group in their corner of the practice area. For not the first time, Harry was glad he had such friends. They, like Paul, made no comment on the bruise, or the fact that he was hardly ever there. All they did was make a joint effort in catching Harry up on the newly learned moves before class started.  
  
Harry grinned, yes, no matter how bad things are at the Dursleys', I have good muggle and magic friends. Even though Harry was having a great time with his karate friends, he still dearly missed Ron and Hermione. Though he still kept in touch with them, it seemed to be dying down and he had not heard anything of the war effort, or lack of war effort, against Voldemort.  
  
Once Harry and a Hawk who had been gone the day before had gotten caught up, Paul began the day's lesson. They learned a jump kick combo that was extremely fun to learn. Especially to watch someone else learn. Harry kept tally on how many times Simon fell on his arse, which turned out to be 17 until he finally got it right and kicked Rhea in the back of the head. The fight that ensued could rival one of Ron and Hermione's best. However, their fight was cut short as a sharp knock on the door announced someone's arrival. Everyone turned to look at it, even though the door was still closed. Paul glanced up from where he was helping an Eagle learn the combo. Since the Flacons' were right next to the door, he called out to them.  
  
"Harry, would you get that for me? Tell who ever it is that I'll be there in a minute."  
  
Harry nodded and walked toward the door. Almost everyone went back to what they were doing, except Ryan, who had been Harry's partner and was watching him. Harry opened the door, ready to tell the person the message Paul told him to. Yet when he saw who the person was, the words died on his lips and the two said the exact same thing. "YOU!"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(A/N: Did you really think I would leave you there?)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
In surprise, Harry slammed the door shut.  
  
Harry was debating what to say when he next opened the door, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Paul looking at him with curious eyes. Harry looked around at the class and saw everyone staring at him. He blushed and looked down as Paul opened the door.  
  
"Ah, Severus!" He exclaimed as he saw who the person was. "I think you surprised young Harry here. Don't you think it would have been a little more mandatory if you had come after class?"  
  
Snape, still standing at the door, glared at Harry, "If I had known he was going to be here, I assure you, I would not have come until I was sure your 'class' was over and done with."  
  
Harry, insulted, looked back up, eyes narrowed, "Hey! I was having a perfectly fine day until I opened the door!"  
  
As Snape got a good look at his face, the bruise especially, his eyes narrowed in curiosity. He recovered quickly, "Mr. Potter, I am on a short fuse at the moment and I need to speak with Professor Psidong, so if it doesn't interfere with your 'schedule' I would step out with him. Alone."  
  
Harry looked down, more to cover his bruise than anything else, and nodded, surprised at his daring with the potion's master.  
  
Paul smiled at Harry, "Please go back to your group, Harry. I'll have a talk with Severus." The two exited the room and closed the door gently behind them.  
  
Harry turned away from the closed door to find the entire class standing and staring at him. He blushed, ducked his head, and walked back to the other Falcons' who were also staring at him. When he got to them they were silent for a second until Alyssa recovered and asked: "And what was that about?" The others nodded in curiosity.  
  
Harry gave a wry grin, "He's a teacher from my school. He's the by far the meanest one."  
  
Alyssa frowned, "What does he teach?"  
  
"Po-" Harry stopped himself, "Chemistry."  
  
Alyssa paused in though for a minute until a look of understanding came over her face, "You mean that was Professor Snape?"  
  
Harry nodded grimly, "Yep, his main goal is to make my life as miserable as possible."  
  
"So I've heard, Dean has told me about him."  
  
The others were oddly silent through this, listening to their conversation. Harry noticed that the rest of the class had gone back to what they were doing, though they seemed more subdued than before. Simon was first to speak up aside from Alyssa.  
  
"So what's he doing here?"  
  
Harry shrugged and glanced at the door, "I don't know."  
  
At that moment, the door opened and Paul came back in, closing the door behind him. He didn't seem as cheerful as he was before he left to talk to Snape. However, when he came back into the room, he recovered quickly and it seemed as though nothing had happened.  
  
The class got back into the swing of Karate and the lesson passed too quickly for Harry's liking. All too soon, Harry was climbing into Petunia's car, where his aunt seemed very angry about something.  
  
As they left the parking lot, she sniffed, "You were late."  
  
Harry blinked, "Class just got over with." He knew that the class had gotten out much later than this before, but he also knew that Dudley had been with at the time, so of course Petunia wouldn't be mad them.  
  
The rest of the ride neither of them talked, except for Petunia mumbling about ungrateful nephews and karate teachers.  
  
When he got back to the Dursleys', he was met by a furious Vernon. His eyes flashed as Harry entered the house.  
  
"Well, Boy? What do you have to say?"  
  
Harry blinked, confused, "Um… I'm confused?"  
  
If anything, Vernon just became more furious, "I don't need any of your lip! I know you did something! That Realtor was set against this house! He could probably tell there was a … unnatural being living here." He spat out.  
  
Harry finally understood, "So I'm assuming the inspection didn't go well?"  
  
Harry knew he had crossed the line, smoke seemed to emit from Vernon's ears and Harry was surprised he wasn't hit. Instead Vernon strode forward and grasped Harry by the collar of his shirt. He dragged Harry over to the stairs, opened the door to the cupboard in the side of them and threw him roughly in, causing Harry to bang his shoulder painfully on the opposite wall. Vernon growled at him.  
  
"You will stay in there until you go to Karate tomorrow and you will get no supper or breakfast!" He slammed the door to the cupboard to emphasize his anger. Dust showered down on Harry's head and shoulders.  
  
Harry sighed, it was going to be a long night. He had gotten used to the small bedroom and hadn't expected to be put in the cupboard again. He hadn't even gotten the chance to threaten Vernon with the 'convicted murderer as a godfather' bit.  
  
Sometime in the middle of the night, Harry was awoken by a loud bang from outside and several screams that pierced the air. Harry groaned, his still sleeping mind not taking into effect what might be happening, he glanced at the clock that he had put in the cupboard long before and saw that it was two in the morning. Another scream rose, followed by a yell of pain from a man. Harry's mind finally woke up and his eyes went wide in disbelief.  
  
"No!" He whispered. If what was happening at the moment was what he feared it was, he was no longer even remotely safe. He jerked the tattered covers off him and went to open the cupboard door. However, when he pushed against it, he found that Vernon had locked him in; Harry would have to take the hard way out.  
  
He backed up to the far side of the small area and leaped at the door, his shoulder slamming into the wood, the rusted lock broke with a loud crack. Nursing his sore shoulder and wincing as another scream broke in the air, he walked around to the stairwell. As he glanced up it, he was surprised that the Dursleys' had not yet woken up. He shook his head and ran to the front door. After a second of internal struggle between his conscious and reason, he jerked open the door.  
  
What Harry saw before him, was a sight that would be forever burned into his memory. The Dark Mark hovered above a house on the end of Privet Drive.  
  
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(A/N: Well, I'm sorry this chapter was so short, I wanted to make it longer, but it interfered with my plan and I wasn't sure what I would be able to lengthen without it being entirely boring. Let's see, since I'm not good with subtlety I'm sure you can guess what is happening at the end there… but if not, I won't spoil the surprise quite yet. Anyway, Please review, I love them and the more I get, the more encouraged I am to write so if you want this story to keep going, please review… then again, even if you don't want it to, please review and be nice to the people who do, even if it's only me. Anyways, I'll just do thank yous' right now:  
  
Someone2: Ok, you can be disappointed at this one too, I know it was short and I know you hate short chapters, but as I said it would have interfered with my plans to make it longer. I'll try to make the next one a lot longer ok? Bloody Brilliant eh? Well I'm glad you feel that way. Ok, thanks for the long review and if you used 'Generic Evil Laugh Type One' in that review… are you going to use 'Generic Evil Laugh Type Two' in this one?  
  
Raven Of Death: Sorry for the violence in this chapter and I'm trying to put in as little abuse as possible while it still being there, because it does have a semi-kind of- large part in the plot. Anyway, I wont tell you if it goes down hill, you'll have to figure that out yourself and it all depends on what you define 'down hill' as. Hope you like this chapter!  
  
Snowlily: Glad you liked the chapter, thanks for reviewing even though you were in a hurry!  
  
Ghetto: Sorry for the delay on this chapter *Checks Date* Oh, lookie that, it's been exactly a month since I late posted *wince* Sorry! Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner!  
  
Zaln: I'm glad you liked it and of course I can email you, I'll add you to my mailing list (!  
  
StarKitty: Well, thank you for the compliments *blushes* and as to whether Ryan finds out about Harry and tries to help him… I'm sure that will be cleared up in chapter 7, or chapter 8 if you count the prologue. Anyway, thanks for the review!  
  
Bunny: THANK YOU! Someone who likes detail! Lol, anyway, it's ok that you aren't a big reviewer, I don't care if you just pop in to say you like it, I'm just obsessed with reviews (Literally, every day I come on the computer I check to see if I got another review () Anyway, Sorry if there were a lot of spelling errors, if there were, please blame Word Spell Check, not me ^_^.  
  
Shadow: Thanks for the review, and I'm sorry this one took so long to post.  
  
Bon: If you want me to put you on my mailing list, I'll be glad to, just give me your email address and I'll email you right after I post. You have school on Saturday? Ouch, sucks to be you (aren't I so caring?)  
  
SamWitch: Let's see, I'm glad you love it, I'll post the next chapter ASAP! As for your questions: Why is Vernon being so mean? Well, see, my theory on it (which is obviously right for two reasons, one I wrote it, and two I'm always right () is that the first time Vernon hit Harry, he had just lost control of his actions, from then on, when nothing happened, he sort of just thought he could get away with it and it fit in perfectly with his plans to make Harry's life a living hell. 2) Why are Ron and Hermione being so distant? Well, actually they are not, I think I answered this in this chapter but if not… well, Ron and Hermione are owling him, but Harry is telling them that nothing odd is happening. Plus it's not the most important thing in the plot right now, so I'm sort of skimping on that (Sorry Ron and Hermione lovers!) And 3) Why is your keyboard being so stupid? *blink* I honestly don't know. Anyway, I'll post soon. Thanks for the review!  
  
Looks up, wow that last one was very long, anyway, thank you all again for reviewing, and curse all who didn't ( (and I sincerely wish I could) but hope you don't mind the length of this one and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I finish writing it. The Title will be something along the lines of: A Change in Plans Or something like that, if that helps at all. ~Phalanx) 


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